


A Greedy Heart

by blackdragonrider777



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Marco harem, Multi, No starco endgame, Post-cleaving, Will add relationship tags as needed, dimension hopping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 125,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24547480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackdragonrider777/pseuds/blackdragonrider777
Summary: 5 years after the cleaving, the now leader of the royal guard Marco Diaz returns home for some personal matters but he ended up with the trial of an anti-monster cult, second thoughts about his decisions five years ago and a very annoying voice in his head.How will all these and the reencounter with many old faces will interact inside his head but most importantly his heart?
Relationships: Initial Star butterfly/Marco Diaz, Marco Diaz/Jackie Lynn Thomas
Comments: 99
Kudos: 19





	1. Remember me?

It has been 5 years since the cleaving, 5 years of working out the kinks about two extremely different worlds becoming one. 

The sky was now a varied pallet of Mewnie’s pinks and purples, and earth’s blue, the landscape became this weird mix of a little American town from the 2010s and an old medieval kingdom, thankfully the pavement roads were a holdover from the earth. 

Speaking of the road, it was especially deserted today with a single exception: a live dragon that worked as a motorcycle, its front, and hind legs were holding wheels and its horns served as handlebars for its rider. 

The dragon had a collar with a nameplate “NACHOS” it read, the dragon’s owner was wearing a helmet, a red hoodie with a small coat of arms where the raider’s heart would be, a pair of plain jeans, sneakers and a pair of fingerless gloves for a better grip. 

The unusual motorcycle pulled up on a house with an excessive amount of cacti on the lawn and on pots by the windows, the man took off his helmet to reveal brunette hair, tanned skin and a beauty mark under his right eye, he hadn’t reached the front door before it burst open, Three people came running out of the house all of them excited with their arms outstretched. 

“BROTHER!” said a little kid of around 5 years old, her skin a darker shade of brown from her brother. 

“MIJO!” Said a big, burly man with a short mustache, other than that he looked like the man on the front lawn. 

“MY BABY!” Said a woman with puffy, brown hair that reached her waist, her green eyes leaking tears that were running her makeup down her light skin. 

The man in question opened his arms wide and was tackled into the ground by the little stampede of his family, all of them roared with laughter on the floor and as soon they got their bearings enough to sit, the burly man said. 

“So glad you are taking some time off work, royal guard Sir. Marco.” Marco looked into his father’s eyes, gave a weak smile, and blushed. 

“Come on in mijo, there is so much to talk about...and I think we are bothering the neighbors.” A fish person was looking at them with a frown from the house across the street from theirs. 

*Inside the house* 

Father and son were sitting on the couch in the living room all the while Marco was bouncing his little sister on his knee, the little girl was giggling and saying “Yay! Unicorn! Faster!”. 

“So mijo, how is work?”

“You know, it’s been surprisingly quiet, the feral monsters around Mewni Creek have just disappeared, the assassinations attempts on Eclipsa and Star have gone down from fifteen every week to one or two every other month, heck even Mina has been quiet lately.” Marco listed off worriedly. 

“Oh, listen to my young man, all serious and business-like, and to think we both believed you would end up like a store clerk or something since you dropped out of school to go to another dimension...if you ever came back home that is.” Marco’s mother Angie entered the room sporting a huge plate of nachos and a sly grin. 

“Mom! I was going through a certain kind of curriculum in Mewni. It's just that it wasn’t something recog...I really must have worried you back then, didn’t I?” Marco tried to defend himself only to realize he might have been in the wrong there.

“AHAHAHAHA! Mijo, no worries, not only did you come back home, but you also brought the source of income that you learned over on Mewni back home.” His father Rafael patted Marco’s back a bit harder than intended. 

“Yeah...but I promise, no more of that, I won’t make you worry anymore.” Marco stopped bouncing his sister Mariposa and grabbed her to look her in the eyes, after a little staring match Marco embraced the little girl into a tight hug. 

“You are my family, I can’t keep doing that to you guys, that’s just irresponsible and selfish.” Marco said with a hint of sadness. 

“Mijo, just who is the father here?” Rafael said with a serious tone. 

“Wha?” 

“Mijo, I love you and this family more than I will ever do anything else in my life but I’m your father that means that you as my son will make my life hell, my job is to worry about you, pull your ears if I think that’s what you need, be there to be your last line of defense when everything else has failed and support you with gritted teeth even if I think you are putting your whole life down the drain but you are absolutely sure you are doing the right thing.” Rafael got a bit too passionate about that last part and now noticed his whole family looking at him with worried eyes. 

“Ehehehe, what I’m trying to say mijo is that you are nineteen, you ARE irresponsible and selfish and I’m here to help you with YOUR mistakes while you are learning not to be, I’m not old enough for you to start worrying about me.” Rafael sat down and put his thick arm around his son’s neck. 

“Ok, got it, dad, when can I start worrying about you then?” Marco said with a little smile. 

“Let’s start by not being worried about some slow time at work, I know for sure that someone that can’t conceive a job with a bit of peace and quiet isn’t someone I want taking care of me, especially since that peace and quiet is probably because he is just that good at his job.” Rafael winked at his son, Marco gave him a wide smile, let Mariposa on the couch and stood up straight with a serious face. 

“Noted, Sir!” Marco stood stoic as he gave a salute but that crumbled in two seconds because a little giggle escaped his mouth, something the entire family joined in. 

“Well, Sir. Knight, it’s getting a bit late but let’s finish these nachos first and then we go to sleep, that includes you my Mariposita.” Angie gestured towards the youngest member of the family. 

“YEAH! Staying up late!” Mariposa jumped from excitement and threw herself at the nachos. 

“Hey! Leave some for us.” Marco said while getting a handful of nachos. 

The family kept happily chatting and eating well into the night.

*That night on the bath* 

Marco was just getting out of the shower, drying himself with a towel as he approached the sink but stopped with a heavy sigh when he saw his abdomen, he got closer to the mirror and took a good, hard look into his midriff or more specifically a black bruise that has been there for five years now. 

“It’s not that bad, it’s not that bad, it’s not that bad.” Marco’s voice dripped dread as he prodded around his bruise that had grown from a small black spot on the right side of his gut 5 years ago to the monstrosity that was now eating at his chest, shoulder and thigh from his right side and was now starting to invade his left side.

“Everything is ok, everything is ok, everything is ok” after a small sigh Marco got dressed quickly. 

“Mijo, you done in there?” Rafael knocked on the door with some worry. 

“Yes dad, come in.” Marco said while tucking his pajama shirt on his pants just to be safe. 

“Oh, thanks mijo” Rafael entered with nothing but boxers on, showing his gigantic and hairy body, Marco cringed a little at the sight. 

“But stay here a bit, will ya, mijo?” 

“What for?” Marco answered as Rafael smiled a little while applying shaving cream on his face. 

“How are things with Star?” Rafael asked playfully, after a little awkward silence Marco finally responded. 

“Everything is ok, nothing new has really happened, we still go on weird adventures if the schedule allows it. That is less and less lately and thanks to that we’ve started to sneak out of the specially boring royal duties to kiss sometimes.” Marco gave a little nervous laugh and blushed like a tomato. 

“Great! so my grandkids are coming along fine then?” This took Marco by surprise. 

“Dad! There are zero possibilities that they are coming along.” Marco frowned and crossed his arms. 

“Wrapping your tool! Smart move, you have to be sure you found the right one first, but come on, mijo, five years of relationship and let’s not forget how many times you just left everything behind to follow her, I think you are sure enough of the little princess.” Rafael gave him a big knowing smile. 

“Dad! That’s not it, she hasn’t even seen me shirtless yet.” Marco shouldn't have said that, his father stopped shaving, grabbed his kid’s shoulders and saw him with a piercing stare that the reminder of the shaving cream on his face couldn't deter. 

“Mijo if this is being insecure about yourself, let me tell you.” Rafael was serious and Marco’s head was going a mile a minute. 

“Come on Marco! How do you get out of this?” 

“I already know enough about doing it ok?” Marco said nervously. 

“How? With that Jackie girl, mijo? Were you two sincerely that disappointed by the experience?” Rafael’s worry turned to pity in an instant. 

“No dad, I didn’t do anything with Jackie either.” 

“Then how do you know how to do it, mijo? Was it that Kelly I have heard about some times? And I know I’ve heard Star complain about a girl named Heckapoo, also Janna hung out in your room a lot, she even had a copy of the house key.” His father was now trying to brute force his way to the bottom of this. 

“No! Dad, nothing of the sort...it was...hmmm...Videos on the internet?” Marco said slowly and embarrassed. His father wasn’t impressed.

“Yeah, we really need to have this talk.” Rafael declared in an intense manner. 

“Think Marco! Think! I can just confess that I have a black spot that is invading my whole body that I don’t want Star to see...I’ll just take the dumb talk, I’m going to have nightmares tonight” 

*Tomorrow morning* 

Marco was preparing Nachos for a ride and his whole family went out to watch him. 

“Did something come up Marco?” Angie asked, filled with worry. 

“You are leaving already brother?” Mariposa asked, choking back tears. 

“Nope, I’m going to stay here for three more days, I just need to run some errands, I’ll be back soon.” Marco said finishing his preparations.

“Would you be mad at me if I said that I wish the people on your line of work had an early retirement, we miss you a lot here.” Rafael like his daughter was choking back tears and gave his son a light hug. 

“Heh, hard to be mad with that last part, sadly some knights keep working almost for life, you know, unless they get crippling injury.” Marco joked but then he noticed his mother giving him a glare that could put every other glare he had ever received to shame. 

“Not saying it’s gonna happen, what I’m saying is early retirement sounds good but not very likely.” Marco said nervously while revving Nachos and when his dragon took flight he turned to his family. 

“I’ll be back by lunch.” Marco screamed as he drove off. 

*At a doctor’s office*

Marco was sitting on an examination table without his shirt, he was being examined by a tall and lanky woman with mid-length hair done in a bun, when she was done she stood up to her full height to then give a deep frustrated sigh.

“So Sabrina, what’s your take now?” Marco was sitting without his shirt on. 

Sabrina Backintosh was a lot more confident now than how she was in high school, getting away from Brittney Wong seemed to have been a great thing for her, she was now in college to become a doctor and helped her parents on their doctor’s office on the outskirts of Mewni Creek, which were great news for Marco, he had been asking for her help since he heard of it. 

“The same as all the other times...I’m stumped.” The tall woman looked at him with worried green eyes. 

“Yep, the same thing I’ve been getting all along.” Disappointed Marco put on his clothes. 

“I’ve been trying to learn about sicknesses and poisons from Mewni since you confided that little problem of yours to me.” Sabrina got near a bookshelf filled with older books. 

“But I got nothing by investigating unicorns, no spell that has this particular effect, no feral monster or magical creature venom that causes this reaction.” Sabrina took a book and proceeded to speed read it while pacing back and forth she then suddenly tripped on her own two feet but Marco cached her before she hit the floor. 

“And you are still as accident-prone as before.” Marco said while both locked eyes with each other, Sabrina’s cheeks became beet red and in a panic took the book she had on hand and hit him on the head with it. 

“Ok, she is still a bit jumpy too.” 

“You have a girlfriend!” while Marco flinched with the hit, he didn’t let go of Sabrina till he got her to her feet. 

“You’re welcome.” Marco said while rubbing his head and taking a deep breath.

“Why are you even checking spells and magical creatures anyways, magic no longer exists, me and Star destroyed it, remember?” 

“Yeah I know, but that bruise is just so incomprehensible that I just had to check every possibility and guess what? I came out empty-handed anyways.” Sabrina said frustrated. 

“Well no worries, it doesn’t affect me on my day to day life, I even forget it’s there some times.” Marco told her something that wasn’t entirely untrue. 

“I know it doesn’t hurt Marco, but it has grown a lot in these two years I’ve known about it, I’m sure it must be harrowing to see yourself in the mirror every day and see it’s gotten bigger, I’m especially scared now, considering that it just reached your heart now that I checked.” Sabrina said with genuine worry and concern to Marco while looking him dead on the eyes and took his hand before saying. 

“Marco please, just tell Star, Moon or Eclipsa, anyone who has more experience with magic than me would be good.” Sabrina pleaded.

This time it was Marco’s turn to blush “I might have had a chance to hit that back on high school.” 

“What the hell?” Marco screamed and jumped in surprise, letting go of Sabrina’s hand like it was electrically charged. 

“Marco I know you are against telling them about this but you shouldn't get like that.” Sabrina said indignantly. 

“No! I just suddenly started to think about how hot you are and got surprised!” Marco’s jaw slacked in sheer horror to the words that had just left his mouth. 

“Excuse you!?” 

“There is obviously something very wrong with me, tell Star or Eclipsa? Got it, have a great life, I’ll see you when I think you’ve forgiven me.” Marco stiffly walked to the door while talking a mile a minute and opened the door with a kick. 

“I’M SORRYYYYYYYY!!!” Marco screamed while running out of the office and when Sabrina heard the sound of his dragon cycle getting far away she finally said exasperated. 

“What’s so surprising about me being hot?” Sabrina squeaked out with an embarrassed voice.

*On the road* 

“I can’t believe what I just did, I have a girlfriend and I’m not even into Sabrina.” Marco said angry and confused. 

“Pfft, yeah keep telling yourself that” A voice that sounded eerily familiar to Marco said.

Marco hit the brakes on Nachos hard at that moment. 

“Ok, then little fella, who are you? And where are you?” He quickly touched his neck to inspect if he hadn’t grown a second very talkative head...again. 

“Wrong place but look to your left.” 

Marco snapped his focus to the left and found something he was not expecting, one of Mina Loveberry’s minions, they had taken to use a plain dark brown robe to protect themselves from the elements since they became a guerrilla army, they just appeared out of nowhere attacked knights or high ranking monsters (or any monster for that matter) and of course anyone who dared defend them, and then disappear without much of a trail. 

They had been quiet for a while and Marco had a chance to get answers now, he revved Nachos and pounced on the unsuspecting soldier, Nachos was able to grab hold of the robe but to Marco’s annoyance only the robe. 

“Hey there! Mr. Fancy pants leader of the guard” All of Marco’s annoyances disappeared when he saw just who he stole the robe off. 

Standing smug and proud was the crazed leader of the anti-monster movement, a woman with long purple hair made into two ponytails on either side of her head that reached her hips, a light blue dress and a helmet with holes for her ponytails. 

“MINA!” Marco screamed and Nachos took a dive straight into the woman. 

“Wowie! You are mad! I wonder, what could little ol’ me have done to get you like that?” Mina said mockingly and easily evaded the attack to the side and quickly gave a loud whistle. 

“Alert your cronies all you want, without a leader they are all going to be easy pickings” Marco said while preparing Nachos for another dive. 

“Leader? Me? Aww!!! You smooth talker you!” Mina said with fake embarrassment as she waited for the last moment to dodge Nachos dive but this time Marco jumped off his dragon to throw himself at Mina when she dodged Nachos, pinning her to the ground. 

“Yeah, you! Who else has been turning good people into soldiers for your stupid hate-filled campaign?” Marco said having Mina grabbed by the shoulders. 

“HAH! For as much as I like the attention, you are giving me too much credit, bucko! When our two words were cleaved together, I found a bunch of people that never agreed to that, people whose lives were destroyed by this little mumbo jumbo and surprisingly people that were even more ready than me to kick the monsters and monster smoochers into the curb!” Mina screamed with her eyes crossed. 

Marco suddenly heard Nachos roaring a scared roar and felt something sticky on his back, a giant spider had sneaked up on them to capture Marco and was reeling him in while Nachos was desperately trying to fly away from the arachnid. 

“How're those cronies for ya?” Mina stood up and ran as fast as she could. 

Marco took from his pocket a pair of scissors with gold blades that sported his name and a flame accent on its dark purple almost gray handles, he opened them completely and using the edge of the tool he easily cut through the web. In a hurry he did the same for Nacho’s strand of web, freed and now aware of the creature Nachos drove the spider back by quickly diving at it and burning its legs with her fire breath. 

While Nachos scared the spider off Marco tried to find Mina but she was long gone, what was that all about? She hadn’t been sighted in months and now suddenly she was running around alone on an empty road, let’s not forget about her claiming that she was not the leader of her little guerrilla army. 

Nachos flew to Marco’s side and snuggled up to him, she noticed the scissors on his hand and took them on her mouth, her mood noticeably down. 

“Yeah girl, I miss her too, but hey she was kind enough to get you into this dimension before...you know, and these things are amazing weapons even if they can’t open portals any more, let’s just be happy that we have a lot to remember her by, ok, girl?” Marco said while giving Nachos some reassuring pets, after which the dragon parted with the scissors no problem. 

Marco could still remember when he got back home after the words merged, his parents were shocked about it but there she was on his front lawn, the dragon cycle he loved and treasured so much back with him, with a note tucked on her collar. 

“Hey muscles, I don’t know if you’ll receive this note but you and I know what’s gonna happen to me when you and the princess are done with your little plan, so I can’t take care of Nachos anymore, I hope she finds a good home no matter where she ends up but I know that the one and only place she can be happy is with you, Muscles, so if by any hit of luck she ends up with you, please don’t disappoint her, ok?

Signed: H-Poo” 

Marco got misty-eyed, he still had that note back on his room at the castle, he felt the back of his head only to remember that the bald spot that the mischievous, devil may care Hekapoo had left on him had long since been filled with hair again. 

“Let’s go, girl, now it’s no time to be feeling blue.” Marco said while mounting Nachos, the dragon quickly took flight on the last direction they saw Mina take. 

*At the Mewni Creek park* 

“Ok, girl, do you see her?” Marco said to the flying dragon cycle, the response he got was a disappointed growl. 

“Let’s land then, I made you run like a bat out of hell, girl, you deserve a little rest.” Marco scratched the dragon’s head as they landed and once on the ground he noticed someone waiting for them there. 

“Ohhh! Hey, there girl!” A girl with blonde hair with a seafoam green streak on the side of her face, wearing a police uniform and a seashell necklace approached Nachos on a friendly matter. 

“Jackie?!” Marco was surprised, even after the merging of both worlds he hadn’t seen his ex-girlfriend that much, actually he hadn’t seen her in about four years and now she was petting his dragon cycle as if she had known her all her life. 

“I can’t believe it, Marco! Wow, I didn’t even recognize you, look at you! All grown up, is she yours by the way? I’ve seen her roaming around from time to time, kinda wanted to keep her but you know, collar.” Jackie ended by jiggling the name tag on Nachos’ collar. 

“Well yeah, she’s been mine for a while now, I didn’t know she went to roam around actually.” Marco awkwardly blurted out and finished it off with a worried look towards the pampered dragon. 

“Awww! You don’t get enough exercise? Do you? Do you?” Jackie cooed to Nachos while scratching the dragon's neck, something the biological motorcycle appreciated very much. 

“Why are you here anyway, practicing skating?” Marco was completely hooked on how...motherly Jackie looked with his dragon. 

“You are probably thinking of those hips...man, how did those get even wider?” 

Marco was about to retaliate just like in Sabrina's office but stopped when he saw Jackie looking at him dead in the eye with a serious expression. 

“Yeah, I think it’s fairly obvious what I’m doing here.” Jackie pointed at the seal on her shoulder or more specifically the seal on her police uniform. 

“I should be asking, why are you on someone else’s turf Mr.Knight?” She said while pointing at the insignia on Marco’s chest and the Latino knight’s eyes went as big as saucers. 

“You’re right, MINA! I was chasing Mina Loveberry, I lost her on the town’s outskirts and I was...just looking blindly everywhere to find her.” Marco started hysterically screaming only to end with a frustrated sigh. 

“Woah! Little miss psycho was around here? Shoot, I’ve been on patrol around this area the last 3 hours and I haven’t seen a sign of either her or her pack of crazies, I’ll inform this to the guys right away though.” Jackie said seriously as she took out her radio. 

“That’s more or less what I was expecting, that girl has to be great at hiding if we haven’t caught her in five years!” Marco screamed in defeat.

“You tell me, we’ve lost a few very good men to the bitch and her goonies, with all that we should have at least a trace.” Jackie said with spite as she put away her radio. 

“Yeah, the same happened to a few knights of mine, thankfully a lot less lately...and that scares me.” Marco sat on the grass.

“You think she is planning something?” Jackie sounded worried as she sat beside him. 

“I don’t know, when I found her today she ran circles around me until she got tired of it, but two interesting things happened, one she claimed that she wasn’t the leader of her little cult, that the people from our original world actually surpassed her and second she whistled to get a giant spider to try to eat me and Nachos, if it was a trained spider or a feral one that she just alerted to my presence I don’t know.” 

“Sounds scary that there are people here that are crazier than Mina and I don’t know about the spider, I don’t really see a group bound together by the hatred of everything that is a monster just turn around and start working together with them, but who knows? Adding hypocrites to their resume wouldn't feel all that out of place.” Jackie said articulating with her arms, Marco saw this and with a big sigh and an awkward look he began. 

“Say, I need to be somewhere at lunch but can we talk this over a snack? Maybe we could even catch up? If you are already off patrol that is.” Marco said hopefully but Jackie just saw him confused. 

“Lunchtime was three hours ago, dude.” Marco was getting tired of getting surprised today, he took his cell phone from his pocket and indeed lunchtime was three hours ago. 

“Oooooohohohoho! Are you kidding me?! Sorry, Jackie, I have to go, NACHOOSSSSS!” Marco in a panic hastily scrambled to stand up and reach his dragon with Jackie giggling all the while. 

“Aussi mignon que je me souvienne.” Jackie’s big green eyes seemed to sparkle. 

“What was that?” Marco stopped dead in his tracks while mounting Nachos, Jackie cleared her throat and stood firm and serious. 

“Sir. Marco, I will be expecting you here tomorrow at the same hour for a full report on Mina and any criminal activity the royal knights have, in turn also expect a full report from the Police Force, I hope there is no inconvenience with our two groups working together.” Marco dismounted his dragon and mimicked the officer’s pose. 

“Yes ma’am, I’ll be sure to prepare accordingly for all the respect your position deserves, it would be a pleasure, nay an honor for my knights to finally work together with such a fine organization that is the police force and your cute freckled face.” Marco was considering visiting a therapist for that voice in his head, until he noticed Jackie barely standing because of how much she was laughing...yep, he said that out loud again. 

“And here I was trying to sound so official and stuff Ahahahaha!! Ok, Sir. Marco, see you tomorrow, I’ll be sure to bring the report and my cute freckled face with meeeehehehahaha!!!” Marco was laughing awkwardly, barely containing his embarrassment, until Jackie finally calmed down. 

“I thought it was funny but contain that tongue a little, will ya? As far as I remember you are still taken, aren’t you? Well, see ya.” Jackie said in a peppy tone and left the place on a brisk pace, Marco couldn't muster the will to even move until she was out of sight. With a heavy sigh, the leader of the royal guard mounted his dragon and went on his way. 

*At Marco’s home that night* 

“Just what is wrong with me today, HEY WHOEVER THAT VOICE IS!!! COULD YOU SHUT UP?!” Marco screamed that last part on to his pillow, that seemed like a good catharsis for him, from how hard he screamed Marco was now on his knees on the floor of his room, panting a little to regain a bit of breath...until he felt an itch, specifically on his torso. 

“Oh no.” With dread Marco stood up and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind him and removing his pajama shirt as fast as he could, and there it was the black mark but it was smaller, much smaller, there were no traces of it on his stomach or side it was now a perfect true to life outline of a beating heart on top of his own. 

The mark followed the knight’s heartbeat for about five seconds before disappearing completely like water going down the drain...as if his heart had absorbed it. 

“This can’t be good.” Marco said with horror. 

“On the contrary, my dear friend, I think this might be the best thing that has ever happened to you.” Marco’s heart suddenly turned a neon purple that could be seen through his skin, the light started to slowly rearrange itself until it looked like an eye and a set of lips, but the eye seemed off almost like a...suction cup. 

“Monster arm?! How the hell do you even exist!?” Marco hit the sink in a rage. 

“Awwww, you remember me, I’m flattered but ‘monster arm’ doesn’t fit me now, does it? How about I go from now on by...Greedy Heart.” The sickly neon purple face on Marco’s chest gave him a wicked smile. 

*Author’s Notes* 

Whew, that was chapter one, sincerely a lot of fun to write. 

For anyone reading this on AO3 for the first time this story has been available for a year now on FF (also another 17 chapters) buuuuuuttttt this is the heavily edited version of it, since it is coming to a new house I thought I will comb and dress this story nicely for this. 

I am planning to try to correct mistakes and make all the other chapters easier to read in order to slowly put them on AO3, so if anybody has anything to say about this chapter I’m all ears, from grammar mistakes to minute details about the characterisation of a character I want to know your thoughts. 

And whether you do or don’t I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading all the way through, have a nice day and thank you for your time.


	2. Not how I remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco gets to know his own heart and goes to catch up with his ex... one was way less fun than the other, guess wich.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, I don't get this site formating... will try my best.

Marco stared at the weird face on his chest, a combination of anger and disgust was mixing in his stomach as he saw the smug smile the thing that once was his arm was giving him. 

“So it was your fault? All my slip-ups today, me acting like an ass in front of Jackie and Sabrina?” The light show on his chest rearranged itself into a confused expression. 

“You wouldn’t have done it without me?” The talking organ retorted genuinely curious. 

“What?” Yes, too many surprises for Marco today. 

“If I remember correctly, you adore Jackie, have you never thought about how cute her freckles are? Did you never think that Sabrina looks amazing in that white coat? Or never wanted to protect her back in school?” the smile returned. 

“Spare me your bullshit, because of you I beat a bunch of children and I sincerely tried to kill one of them.” Marco was accusatory pointing at his now sentient heart at the mirror, the neon face started laughing hysterically. 

“Let’s just forget the part where you wanted to beat that kid to death way before I came around and that you saw the rest of the kids as nothing but obstacles in your way and yes, it was all my fault.” Marco’s frown furrowed to its maximum, only to take a calming breath and stare at his old curse on the mirror with a serious expression. 

“Star found a way to make you disappear once, I’m sure that finding a permanent measure won’t be that hard now that I know what is going on.” The Latino turned around and got dressed, finally reaching his bedroom and lying down on his bed for a good night's sleep, and surprisingly his new talking heart had nothing to say for the rest of the night. 

*At Sabrina’s office* 

“So you’re saying that it took a life of its own and is talking to you?” Sabrina said in disbelief as she stared at the face that made its home on the torso of Marco Diaz. 

“Yes! Please don’t tell me I’m the only one that can see the laser show in my chest!” Marco said with desperation. 

“See it? Don’t worry, this creepy thing has been giving me the look since you took off your shirt.” Sabrina shuddered. 

“Wait, really?” 

“Yeah, he even made an eyebrow to be more expressive and everything.” Sabrina took her pocket mirror to show the Latino his chest openly flirting with her and indeed a little purple neon eyebrow was on top of the suction cup-like eye, said eyebrow was contorting into different shapes...probably what the ex-tentacle thought was “seductive”. 

“Really, man?” Marco sounded...disappointed? 

“What? Can you do better? Please, show me.” Greedy Heart said to its host sounding genuinely surprised. 

“What are you implying?” The royal knight tried to intimidate his own chest. 

“That you begged your way into a relationship with a girl that was very much over you and just ignored you until you acted like a lost puppy dog long enough, did you catch it? Or was I too subtle?” Greedy Heart said with some frustration in its voice, Marco blushed. 

“I didn’t act like a lost dog.” Marco snapped back cracking his voice in the process. 

“Yeah, you’re right dogs are cute, you’re more of a beggar also why does your voice still crack? Want me to go some inches south and see if I can finally make them drop?” Now both of them were screaming at each other but they both calmed down when they heard a snort coming from the only other person in the room.

“SABRINA!!!” Marco now sounded a few octaves above what he should be capable of. 

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just that, I was so worried about you, that mark could have done anything, you know? It could have rotted you from the inside out, could have put you in a coma, or turn you into a monster, who knows all the crazy possibilities that could come with magic, and all that happened was a little voice that bickers with you and sometimes makes you act all horny on main, I’m sincerely counting it as a blessing.” Sabrina shrugged and gave a little giggle, Marco for his part was on a trance. 

“You look adorable when you are relaxed.” Marco said without even thinking what he said, making Sabrina blush and look bashful. 

“Do I really look stressed that often?” 

“Ahhh...hmm.” Marco was fidgeting, he really didn’t want to say that yes, despite not having constant breakdowns like in high school, she usually looked tenser than a bow ready to shoot an arrow. 

“Ooohhh, ok, I get it.” Sabrina said frustrated and turned her back to her tongue-tied patient to take a book from her shelf. 

“Huh, I thought you were going somewhere, good on you to prove me wrong.” Greedy Heart’s voice echoed on Marco’s head.

“I shouldn't go anywhere, with anyone that isn’t Star, so shut up.” Marco hissed quietly. 

Marco looked at the woman clad in a white coat that was still turning her back to him, with a sigh he approached her and after clearing a knot in his throat he finally talked. 

“...I’m very sorry Sabrina, not trying to cover myself here but thanks to this thing I’ve been kind of weird but I’ve had enough missteps with you that is not an excuse anymore.” Marco seemingly deflated, he really couldn’t think of anything else to say, but the doctor in training wasn’t turning around. 

“I-I-I…*sigh*...I really do think you look way cuter when you are relaxed, not that you look bad in any way, you are beautiful and I’m sure college and everything must be very stressful for you so I won’t tell you to just relax and-and-aaahh…” Marco was blushing furiously, his eyes darting everywhere but the woman that has been helping him this past 2 years and when he just couldn’t find any more words just sighed in defeat. 

“Awww, you’re done already? I was enjoying that.” Sabrina turned around and gave Marco another giggle, her cheeks had a slight rosy tint to them. 

“Heh, you got me.” The knight managed to answer, a bit embarrassed but relieved. 

“But anyway, look at these.” Sabrina showed him one of the books that had been copied off of one of the magic books on Mewni’s castle. 

“For what you told me that arm was made because Star mucked up a spell to fix up your broken arm.” 

“Yeah.” Marco looked at the book, scholars had been hard at work to translate everything they could of ancient magic text and the like from Mewni, he really didn’t see a point to all that but considering the talking sentient heart beating on his chest right now, he would have to admit he was wrong on that one. 

“Well, apparently that is a very simple spell, supposedly it puts something like glue on the affected bones and keeps any parts of it together and steady, you still need some time to heal but it greatly accelerates the process.” Sabrina pointed at the spell in question, Marco sighed in exasperation after seeing that the whole spell was a simple:   
First step: Point at the affected area.   
Second step: Imagine a healthy specimen of the affected bone (Use visual aid if needed).   
Third step: Chant the spell “Whole, Together, No shard is forgotten, Unite the bone that has been broken” 

“Yeah, she has a hyperactive imagination, she probably thought about a tentacle while using the spell and she chanted the spell wrong I’m sure of it.” Marco said with his palm firmly on his face. 

“Either way she would still be a better help than me, especially now that we know for sure that this is a magic problem.” The young college student was a bit exasperated and laid on the examination table. 

“Pffft, you are selling yourself short, you actually found the spell I wanted in 5 minutes, Star just rushed into it and it ended up with...well this.” Marco gestured towards his neon chest, when Sabrina turned her attention towards it, Greedy Heart once again gave her *the look*, abstaining from gagging the young doctor looked at the knight once again. 

“You see, in two years you’ve learned a whole lot of magic, without a way to practice it or any apparent use for it, you are quite the scholar Sabrina, don’t doubt it, heck if I remember correctly Star never could actually use levitato.” Marco gave his speech while giving Sabrina a reassuring look, Sabrina looked very receptive to it until the last sentence, then she looked confused. 

“Levitato? The levitating spell? The magic equivalent of learning to count to ten?” 

“I’m not sure but yes, it’s probably that one...She wasn’t very disciplined or interested in learning magic properly but hey, that just proves that you are indeed good at magic.” Marco said that last part with enthusiasm, Sabrina gave him a little smile. 

“Do you think that magic would make a comeback? I would love to have something I’m good at.” Sabrina said hopefully. 

“There might be a chance.” Marco said once again gesturing to Greedy Heart and Sabrina quickly stood up to put both her fist in the air. 

“Well, I’m pumped then, do you remember what chant Star used to make...Him.” Greedy Heart once again wagged its eyebrow and threw some kisses at Sabrina. 

“I...Really don’t, that was like 6 years ago.” Marco said distraught. 

“Releaseo Demonius Infestica.” Greedy Heart mentioned offhandedly, the doctor and the knight stared at it in disbelief. 

“What? That chant is basically my mother, don’t look at me like that.” Greedy Heart looked embarrassed and turned itself off like a light bulb and Sabrina and Marco were now looking at each other without changing their expressions. 

“So, releaseo demonius infestica it is.''Sabrina went to her desk to write it down on a piece of paper. 

“Ok, I’ll see you later, if you need anything please don’t hesitate to call.” Marco said while getting dressed. 

“Don’t worry, see you later.” Sabrina was now burying her nose into another book, the knight was about to leave but at the door he remembered something he needed to tell her. 

“By the way, Sabrina, I saw Mina Loveberry around this place the other day.” Marco saw Sabrina snapping to attention after hearing that statement. 

“I don’t mean to alarm you but I know your parents treat both humans and monsters in this clinic, so...be safe.” Marco said with worry, Sabrina for her part had her eyes opened as wide as plates and was visibly shaken. 

“Yeah, safe, I’ll stay safe, don’t worry.” Was her nervous and hasty response. 

With a worried look and a nod Marco Diaz left the clinic. 

*On Mewni Creek Park*

Marco was sitting on the grass while looking at Nachos frolicking happily in the park, so Jackie was right she might not get enough exercise, considering that most of his time was now used to either being an escort or training reclutes, his time to play with Nachos was now almost gone. 

“I left you two alone and you did jack and shit, teaches me to not leave all the heavy lifting to you.” Marco checked his chest and noticed the light show was still off, so Greedy Heart could be the whole face or just the voice in his head. 

“Keep talking all you want but I won’t betray Sta-.” Marco whispered his response until he felt a hand on his shoulder, he jolted himself into a standing fighting stance. 

“Woah! Mr. Knight didn’t know you were into talking to yourself.” Behind him was Jackie Lynn Thomas, his ex-girlfriend, a current police officer. She had a chill smile on her face...and was on a fighting stance as well.

“Hey Jackie, don’t scare me like that.” Marco said in a good mood.

“Ahahaha, I couldn’t help it, you just looked so out of it, oh! By the way.” Jackie took her hair and pulled it off her face. 

“Did I bring the correct one Sir. Diaz?” Jackie said touching her freckles lightly. 

“Yep, cuter than a line of ducklings.” Greedy Heart talking inside his head was becoming really irritat-.

“That is a passing note, I take it?” Jackie giggled and let her hair down once again, all the while Marco was cursing his cardiac organ under his breath. 

“Bring it here.” The law enforcer opened her arms and after a second of hesitation Marco went in for the hug. 

They stayed like that for a bit, Nachos noticed and went to nussle with them, with a laugh they added Nachos into the hug. 

“Ok, Marco Diaz, enough of this.” Jackie let go, with hands on her waist and angled hips she gave him a relaxed look. 

“Yes, ma’am, awaiting orders.” Marco responded playfully. 

“Tacos?” Jackie said with a mock intense tone. 

“Tacos.” Marco responded likewise. 

With that said both started walking. Nachos stayed beside Jackie who happily petted the dragon cycle. 

“Wow! You really must have been good company for her, usually, she isn’t this clingy.” Marco said with honest admiration. 

“Yeah, she likes this park a lot, I’ve been patrolling this zone for a while and one day I just noticed her, I tried to befriend her for quite a while, offered her food, sometimes I opened the water for a bit so she could play or drink, just trying to make friends while keeping my distance...and when she finally got cozy with me and closed the gap, I noticed.” Jackie gave the name tag on Nachos collar a sad jiggle. 

“Hey, as of late I haven’t had the time to look after her properly... if she could be of use to you like in your job or something, I could lend her to you, she already seems more than comfortable with you.” Marco tried to bring up the subject without sounding too pushy. 

“Whoa? You mean it?” Jackie said hopefully turning to see him in the eyes, Marco saw a subtle glint in them. 

“Dude help!!! I’m fluttering, AAAAAHHHHH!!!” Marco forcefully shoved the intruding voice to the back of his mind. 

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t need her for patrol, and considering that she comes all the way here from the castle.” Marco pointed at the horizon where the distinguishable and distant silhouette of Mewni castle stood. 

“That means she really must be bored out of her mind being all cooped up on the stables.” Jackie’s eyes widened at his words. 

“So if she could be of help to you and the force, AND be near the park she likes so much, I really can’t see the downside to this.” Jackie gave him a tight surprise hug. 

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Did you hear that girl? You’re staying with me for a while, ready to be part of the force?” Jackie excitedly talked with the dragon while hugging her by the neck. 

“And so ladies and gentlemen, here we have the specimen going gaga for the woman that he ignored so hard SHE had to break up with him, yes kind audience the specimen knows not what shame is.” Marco was desperate to push the voice off his head, he had to say something, anything to just not hear it. 

“Hey keep it up and Chlóe is going to get jealous.” Marco said jokingly but Jackie suddenly turned downcast and gave Nachos a more subdued but tighter hug. 

“Ooohhh...Shit, man.” Greedy Heart sounded unambiguously concerned. 

“Oh no, I’m so sor-.” A finger was hastily put on his lips, silencing him, Jackie looked at him dead in the eyes, her own a bit misty and just shook her head.

“I’m glad you two broke up, you REALLY don’t deserve her.” 

“Don’t worry about it, you didn’t know.” Jackie said still a bit melancholic. 

They reached Britta’s Tacos in silence. 

*At Britta’s Tacos* 

Jackie looked better by the time they arrived and even better after her third EXTREMO BURRITO. 

“So Jackie, is there some incident you wanted me to spill the beans about?” Marco finally broke the silence. 

“You remembered that?” Jackie said back at his old chill safe. 

“It must be something a bit personal if you are asking, you know we can’t share much information.” Marco said in a serious tone. 

“Oh? Now you’re reading my mind?” Jackie said with a little mockery, Marco lowered his gaze and seemingly shrunk, the officer gave a sigh and then a little giggle. 

“Don’t worry, you’re right, but you have to promise me, please don’t freak out, it probably isn’t a big deal.” Jackie said seriously and Marco responded with a solemn nod. 

Jackie massaged the sides of her head and took a deep breath before talking. 

“Have you seen Janna lately?” Marco felt a bit underwhelmed by the question. 

“Jackie, I don’t know if you remember correctly but that girl stalks me, The last time I saw her was…” Making memory Marco surprised himself...He hasn’t seen Janna in YEARS, his panic growing by the second. 

“OH GOD! Did Mina and the band of creeps do something to her? Was she dumb enough to think she could tame a feral monster? Did she find some creepy ruins and they came down on her? Did sh-.” Marco quickly descended to hysterics.

“Your promise, Diaz.” Jackie said in a stern tone, probably picked out on the force, flabbergasted by this new side of the blonde he calmed down, but he was still feeling down, Marco put his hands over his eyes as if he were about to cry. 

“How is she?” He said on the verge of tears. 

“I can’t believe I just didn’t notice her not being there anymore.” If Marco wasn’t so focused on something else he could have sworn he heard Greedy Heart beating itself up just like he was doing right now. 

“That’s exactly the problem Marco, I don’t know.” Marco looked up from the barrier that was his hands. 

“She has been missing for a year and a half now, I asked her parents and they say that it’s normal for her to disappear for months without a word, but this time seems excessive.” Jackie said once again melancholic. 

“Do you think that Mina-.” Jackie interrupted. 

“You know that Mina doesn’t hide bodies just her tracks and the feral monsters aren’t exactly subtle when they snack on civilians either.” Jackie said worriedly. 

“I’m sorry for informing you this but the station is completely swamped protecting the people that are still accounted for that any missing person report is put immediately on low priority and well I did remember that Janna was a bit too attached to you so I thought she could just be following you around without telling anyone.” Jackie was now in the same state as Marco. 

“I will find her.” Marco stated matter of factly.

“Do you have time for that?” Jackie said hopefully.

“I will make time for that if I have to, don’t worry, for me this is priority one.” Marco stood up and started to walk away until Jackie called for him. 

“Marco!!! Wait until tomorrow, I have a long weekend starting tomorrow, three sets of eyes are better than two.” Jackie got close to Nachos and scratched the dragon’s neck. 

“Besides you know how Janna is, as I told you this might not even be that big a deal as we worry ourselves to think it is.” Jackie gave him a reassuring look and Marco conceded. 

“You’re right, that girl knows how to take care of herself, I’ll wait for you tomorrow, I’m staying at my parents' house but don’t worry if you don’t remember where it is, Nachos could find that house in her sleep.” Marco finally relaxed and Jackie looked at him, barely containing her excitement. 

“You mean?” Jackie was glowing. 

“Yep, take her to see her new place.” Marco took his helmet and gave it to Jackie, with a “WHOOOO!!!” she put on the helmet and mounted Nachos on one swift motion, wasting no time the two gal pals took off. 

“Be ready! See you tomorrow Marco!!!” Jackie screamed now her excitement in full display as she got further and further away. 

Marco decided that the walk home would be good for him as a way to get his thoughts in order and luckily for him, Greedy Heart only said a single solitary thing the whole trip back home, unluckily for him...He agreed wholeheartedly with the monster organ. 

“If anyone so much as graced her I will chop their heads off and gut them like a fucking fish!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters down 16 to go, hemmm, wooo?


	3. A bad night to remember.

Marco was way more relaxed when he arrived home at 9 pm that night, sadly his family had been worried since 7 pm by the time he crossed the door both his parents were suited up for WAR, clad on improvised armor, melee weapons that consisted of kitchen appliances, gardening tools and a very pointy two by four...and his dad was carrying an assault rifle. Rafael noted his son’s surprise at the latter one. 

“Mijo, the feral creatures have been a real problem this past few years and as it turns out. Bullets work very well for self-defense...please don’t think less of me, mijo, I beg of you.” The bear of a man kept his composure until that last sentence in which he got on his knees and hugged his son by the hips while begging a crying mess. 

“Dad! Dad! Don’t worry, I would never judge you for something like this.” Marco pointed at himself “Knight remember? I just didn’t imagine you guys to have that kind of thing around the house.” 

“Brother, where did the dragon go?” Mariposa said looking outside the door, twin panicked gasps were heard from the parents of the house, after a quick look at their faces Marco noticed they were once again poised for combat. 

“You know, I kinda forgot this side of them.” Greedy Heart gave his two cents. 

“THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED!? SOME LOW LIFE ATAKED MY BABY AND TOOK HIS PRETTY NACHOS!?” Angie shouted outraged while pumping a shotgun...that I have no idea where she had hidden.

“OHHHH! Papi gonna get serious here.” Rafael Diaz went from almost limp on the ground to an imposing figure in the span of half a second, both adults had an evil glow on their eyes and were marching with murderous intent towards the door. 

“GUYS! GUYS! Everything is ok, I just lent Nachos to a friend, we were eating at Ritta’s Tacos and I had to come back on foot without her, that’s all.” Marco hurried to block the door before his parents turned terminators could go outside and make a ruckus. 

“Oh, is that so?” Angie put down the shotgun looking a bit embarrassed, Rafael followed suit. 

“Mommy and Daddy get like that when they see you on the news.” Mariposa came to Marco to be picked up, Marco then remembered, yes, of course, they would be upset, reports of attempts of assassination, attacks on the castle and dangerous missions knights usually go to. 

“Mom, Dad I’m so-.” Rafael interrupted. 

“Mijo, what did I say the day you arrived, I understand, I support you, I will not stop you...it’s just that it’s impossible to think you are all right all the time.” Angie put a hand on her husband’s shoulder and gave Marco a sad look. 

“Come on honey, we have to put all this back.” Angie said gesturing to their improvised equipment. 

“Hey! Hey! If you wanna help me, I need to know something.” Both parents turned with curiosity. 

“Has Janna ever come here after I moved out?” Now the adults were confused. 

“Honey, why would she even come here? Ohhh that poor girl I felt so sorry for her.” Angie gave a sorrowful expression while holding her husband close but Marco was confused. 

“What for?” was Marco’s response, he would have noticed his parents flabbergasted faces if not for- 

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!? JUST HOW BLIND DO YOU FORCE YOURSELF TO BE!?!?!?” Greedy Heart’s voice resounded on his head like someone was trying to beat to death a gong and a drum at the same time. 

“Mijo, do you remember how much she used to follow you around...you know starting from kindergarten?” Rafael said with some concern. 

“Yeah, she is a bit creepy but a good friend.” Marco said feeling nostalgia for those days but his mother stifled a little gasp, after composing herself she gave her husband a look and went to hug Marco.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not like knowing this will bring you any good, it’s better this way.” Letting her son go, she gave her son an enthusiastic smile while holding his shoulders still. 

“Now, why the question?” 

“She's been missing for a year and a half now.” without the smile disappearing on his mother’s face, the killing intent came back full force. 

“Heh, Now we’re talking.” Greedy Heart sounded ecstatic at the prospect of Angie and Rafael going full terminator now. 

“HEY!!! You two, my friend is a police officer and is coming here tomorrow for us to start looking for Janna, for as cold as the case is by now, I would prefer that qualified people take this on.” Marco stood firm and drew the metaphorical line on the sand, both frenzied parents deflated and conceded, leaving the living room to finally put their gear down. 

“Should I tell them that they have as much right to pursue this closed case as 2 law enforcers off the clock?” Said his heart in a mocking tone. 

“SHUT UP.” Marco whispered with clenched teeth. 

“But I didn’t say anything, brother.” Mariposa looked at him with big misty eyes. 

“No, no, I was saying that to...to...to MYSELF! Don’t worry about it.” Marco picked up his little sister and as he held her near his chest a familiar neon purple face appeared there. 

“Wow! What is this brother?” Mariposa said with curiosity, with all her attention on it Greedy Heart started to make exaggerated faces for her. 

“Ahahahaha! It’s funny.” Mariposa turned to see her brother. 

“It’s a new special shirt your big sis Star made for me.” Marco gave the first excuse he could think of. 

“Really?” Mariposa’s face lit up with excitement. 

“Yes! Now you know that me and Star have a special bond, so you shouldn’t tell mom or dad about this, because Star won’t make a shirt like this for anyone else and they might get jealous.”   
The little girl now looked dejected. 

“But I’m jealous too.” To which Greedy Heart responded by making even more faces for the girl but while they made her smile she still looked somewhat down. 

“Well as a promise to Star I can’t borrow it to anyone else.” Mariposa looked like she was holding back tears. 

“...But you can come with me to play with the special shirt whenever you want so long no one notices, ok?” Marco lifted her high and spoke with a very high spirited tone, his little sister was laughing all the while and gave a nod when it was over, when Marco let her go she went back to her room immediately, it was past her bedtime. 

“She’s a little angel.” Marco was really pissed that he had to agree with this monster for the second time today. 

*Marco’s Room that night*

He didn’t know why he felt weird about making this call, come on how hard it is to call your own girlfriend? 

He punched the speed dial on his phone and took a relaxing breath, only to jolt when someone responded. 

“Heeeeloo.” A throaty guttural voice responded, Marco cleared his throat and answered in an official tone. 

“Handmaiden Starfan13, it is the leader of the royal guard Marco Diaz, is it an indiscretion to speak to the princes right now?”

“Oh, no, it’s ok...STAAAAARRRRR!!!! MARCO WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!!!” Moving away from the phone he could still hear an excited squeal from his girlfriend on the other line. 

“How’s the world’s cutest boyfriend vacation going?” Star said in a sing-song voice. 

“Well...It’s going great…*sigh*...Star...Have you seen Janna lately?” Marco said with worry in his voice. 

“...Nooooo, I haven’t seen Janna Banana in years, kinda figured that this whole official and royal stuff just bored her, why? Is she ok?” Star asked with a bit of concern. 

“She’s been missing for what I’m told a year and a half.” He heard a gasp on the other side of the line. 

“I can’t believe it, Marco, if something happened to her-.” Star began to panic but she took a deep breath. 

“My loyal knight, I have been informed that a very esteemed ally of the crown has been reported missing, you are my best knight, I trust you can take care of the matter.” Heh, at least Star could handle the serious and official situations in this kind of matter. 

“How much time am I permitted to fulfill this order?” 

“As much as it is needed but I expect quick results from you, I shall inform the queen of the mission at hand.” 

“As you command my princess, I will start on this assignment right away.” 

They stayed on the line silent for enough time to get awkward. 

“It would be awkward to just start talking all casually after all that isn’t it?” Star said a bit uncomfortable but still stifling a laugh. 

“Yeah.” Marco said just as uncomfortable. 

“But I still have to ask, how is your family?” 

“They are great, just as you remember, dad is still a lovable goof, mom is still just the best and Mariposa is growing up, she is on the point that she knows just enough to be smart but still a kid, she is just adorable.”

“I’m so glad, you were just so homesick, hey if after you find Janna you still need some time with them, I will see what I can do, If this goes my way, finding her is going to be official business anyway so that would be clear meddling with your vacation.” Star said now back to her peppy self. 

“Thanks a million, Star.” Marco thankfully didn’t let his need to cry show. 

“Whenever, wherever, boo, I’ll be expecting news about Janna soon though, good night Marco!” 

“Good night Star.” After hanging up, Marco sighed deeply and just threw himself to his bed, covering his face with a pillow. 

“THAT’S WHO YOU WANT ME TO BREAK THE HEART OF, YOU FUCKING PRICKKKKKKK!!!!!!!” 

“I never told you to leave her...only that there are plenty more fish in the sea.” His heart told him mockingly. 

“Yeah, that’s tooootally different. I'm sorry” Marco said irritated. 

“Holy shit, it’s learning sarcasm, it’s evolving.” Greedy Heart topped that comment with a hearty laugh. 

“Just shut up, shut your useless trap forever, if you please.” The knight started to get comfortable to sleep.

“OOhhhwww! But why start a conversation with me if you just want me to shut up? Hey here is food for thought, Do you think that destroying magic was a good idea?” To this Marco’s closing eyes became opened as wide as plates. 

“Of course it was a good idea!!! Mina and those stupid, hate-filled Solarian warriors would have killed all of the monsters of Mewni have we not done that!!! Also, we stopped anyone that could abuse magic in the future!!!” Marco said boiling mad at the question. 

“Yes, you also genocided any and all magical creatures, and destroyed any civilization that worked because of or was protected by magic, but you didn’t have the time to think of these things in the heat of the moment, didn’t you, champ? Ok then let’s not forget the part you were so quick to sweep under the rug, you assisted on MURDERING H-poo.” Marco jumped off the bed in a rage. 

“DO NOT CALL HER THAT!!! SHE WAS OK WITH THE PLAN!!! SHE EVEN HELPED US TO SEE IT THROUGH!!! YOU’RE STILL ALIVE THAT MEANS WE FAILED ANYWAYS!!!” Every word was punctuated by a punch or kick to any poor object that Marco could reach. 

“I DIDN’T!!!... I didn’t!... I didn’t.” Marco fell to his knees, clutching his chest as hard as he could in an attempt to shut the meddling organ up, tears started to flow freely down his cheeks as he sobbed. 

Marco didn’t even notice his family entering his room with worried eyes, Mariposa who was hiding behind her mother forgot all fears after seeing the state of her brother, letting go of her mother she hastily made her way towards Marco and hugged him a hug that Marco without slowing down on the crying returned eagerly after seeing the scene both parents carefully and gently inserted themselves on the hug, the whole family cried a good 20 minutes that night. 

*The Next Morning* 

“Mijo, are you sure you can go to investigate after yesterday? Isn’t this something like a Shell Shock thing or something?” Rafael asked very worried about his son. 

“I already told you, it was just a nightmare, I’m ok, don’t worry, besides Star already ordered me to find Janna, even if I wanted to bail out I can’t now.” Marco flashed a confident smile to his father after he finished gearing up. 

“Hey! Honey, at least have breakfast before leaving.” Angie screamed from the kitchen. 

Suddenly the sound of a dragon cycle parking on their front lawn caught the attention of everyone present. 

“I’ll open!” Angie ran from the kitchen to the front lawn before Marco could even react. 

“Wait, mom, my friend maybe-.” When Marco got out to get his mother, he was too late, Angie was frozen solid in front of the young adult in a loose green shirt, denim shorts, sneakers and let’s not forget the cherry on top the seashell necklace that Angie recognized on sight. 

“Oh dear! Just look at you!” Angie said excitedly at the woman that was now putting off her helmet. 

“And you are even more beautiful now, I can’t believe it.” Angie was amazed by the surprise friend Marco probably wasn’t planning on telling her about. 

“Long time no see Miss. Dias.” Jackie was a bit embarrassed if the blush across her cheeks were any indication.

“Oh, honey! You can call me Angie like you did back then, no, I insist you call me Angie.” The older woman went in for a hug, Jackie was surprised by it but returned it nonetheless with the same warmth and joy she was receiving from her friend’s mom. 

On the door, both father and son were looking at the scene wide-eyed and frozen stiff. 

“Please tell me that yesterday wasn’t guilt for cheating on Star.” Rafael would have sounded disappointed if he wasn’t so surprised right now.

“One I already told you it was just a nightmare and two I would never cheat on Sta-.” Marco was cut short when he heard his mother say. 

“Jackie please tell us you’ll join us for breakfast.” Angie was already planning on getting Marco’s friend to join them at the table to force him to eat but now she really wanted the company. 

“Well, I had a light breakfast...I guess one or two more bites won’t hurt.” Jackie said with some nervousness as she was being dragged into the house by a positively beaming Angie, going past Marco and Rafael, Jackie was dragged all the way to the kitchen. 

“Dad, can’t you stop her or something?” Marco whispered his question.

“No, I can’t stop your mother, but if you really want to avoid the situation, why don’t you try to convince her?” Marco glared at his father for a moment. 

“Mamá, échales cebolla a mis chilaquiles, por fa.’” Marco screamed to the kitchen. 

“Ya tienen cebolla, cariño” Answered Angie. 

“Échales más entonces.” Marco answered, going to the kitchen on a huff, his hands firmly on his pockets while his father was walking closely behind him giggling all the while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp third down, I am still very curious about this though. 
> 
> Is an off the clock cop has the same permission to pursue a cold case as a civilian is? It's really been bugging me. 
> 
> Well, we are almost off the first part of the fic, that was admittedly slow now that I've re-read it, hopefully things will pick up soon and since I've been blazing these proofreading sessions it will be hopefully very soon. 
> 
> Also, remember I don't have someone to catch mistakes for me so any grammar problem or any other opinion you have on the fic, I will gladly hear and take into account.


	4. Following her

The whole Diaz family plus an extra guest were sitting at the table. 

“So, Jackie, Marco told us that you were now on law enforcement? You know the only thing Marco told us about our guest.” Angie shot her son a glare that he tried to avoid and Jackie saw all this with a giggle. 

“Yep, that’s right, I’ve been an officer for three years now, with the whole business of monsters and stuff, the guys in blue were desperate enough to accept anything they could get, even train a fifteen-year-old.” Jackie said a bit too casually and Rafael had to inquire. 

“But Jackie, why did you choose that path?” 

“Oh, about that, with the worlds colliding shebang everything that I was interested in kinda got thrown to the wayside, turns out that in a world where survival is actually a concern extreme sports are not that high on the priority list, so me and my girlfriend at the time enlisted trying to learn how...well...how to survive instead of being afraid all the time.” Jackie had finished her meal before starting with the story, the second Marco finished his, he gave her a knowing nod. 

“WE’RE DONE!” Both young adults stood up and ran for the dragon cycle waiting outside, as soon as the sound of the unconventional bike faded away Rafael and Angie looked at one another. 

“Do you think they’ll find Janna?” Rafael said putting a spoon full on his mouth. 

“I’m sure of it honey, neither of those girls are delicate little flowers...much less Janna.” Angie gave a little laugh. 

“Also our boy has certainly come on his own, hasn’t he? If Janna is still out there to be found and I hope in my heart of hearts that is the case, then there will be no problem.” Rafael swallowed his food and then awkwardly stammered. 

“Do you think those tw-.” Mariposa who has just been eating her meal peacefully through the whole exchange now raised her voice to interrupt her father. 

“Mommy, Daddy, why does Marco treat that lady, like he does big sis Star? Didn’t you say that only people that become mommies and daddies act like that?” Big curious eyes stared intently at the two adults who were sweating bullets trying to come up with a satisfactory answer for the child. 

“Does that answer your question?” Angie whispered through a nervous smile to her husband. 

  
  


***With Marco and Jackie***

They were high up in the sky, Nachos was enjoying the weight of two people on her back, Jackie was the one on the handle while Marco was hugging her midriff from behind. 

_ “Boy, isn’t this the best? I think I can feel abs under there.”  _ Greedy Heart was thrilled about the situation, Marco didn’t even grunt. 

_ “What? Silent treatment? Ahahahaha.”  _ Marco kept his stoicism. 

_ “Ok big guy, continue this, I will just keep talking, it’s going to be a treat to see you blow your casket again, but for now...our priority is Janna.” _ Marco kept all his attention to ignore that incessant voice in his head, so when Jackie finally spoke he jumped in surprise. 

“Woah! Hey there dude, don’t go falling down here, I just asked if you were curious?” Jackie was surprised by the other passenger's sudden jolt. 

“Huh? Curious? About what?” Marco said in nervous haste. 

“Come on dude, there is no need to play dumb about it, after the little pity party I had yesterday it would be hard to not want to know.” Marco was still stumped, Jackie was getting a bit agitated. 

_ “Chloé, you dunce!”  _ Greedy Heart chimed in. 

“Well, if you don’t want to tell me, I won’t force you.” Marco went for the safe option, Jackie felt a little patronized. 

“No worries, it actually wasn’t messy or anything, she just thought the world would be exciting and new to explore now, I thought it would be suicide to try… and that was about it.” Jackie said hiding her rising turmoil. 

_ “Really?”  _ Marco once again forced by Greedy Heart talked, it seemed that whenever he stopped paying attention to it, it just took control for short spurts. 

“Hehehe, yeah I know seems like little for the reaction I gave, didn’t it? It’s just, it’s been pretty lonely lately.” Jackie now added a bit of sadness on that boiling pot on her stomach. 

“Hemmm, humm.” Marco wasn’t sure what to say. 

“Ça c'est la meilleure!, It’s ok Marco, I mean it, I’m single, My parents thought that since I went to France they should also go on a trip and got stuck over in Europe thanks to this Mewni fiasco and I couldn't go look for Janna even though it’s my job, BECAUSE I WAS BUSY WITH MY FUCKING JOB! AND HOLD ON TO ME I ALREADY TOLD YOU NOT TO FALL!” A few years worth of frustration left Jackie on that rant. 

“Yes ma’am, absolutely ma’am, whatever you say ma’am.” Marco had let go of her midriff and grabbed on to Nachos as to not frustrate Jackie further, it had the opposite effect but Jackie had already pulled over on a tall office building and as soon as she touched the ground Jackie seemed to straighten herself out. 

***On the Wong building***

On the front of the building, a short woman with a bowl haircut and dressed in a business suit with a tight skirt that stopped just above her knees was waiting for them, as soon as she saw them approach she stopped checking the paperwork she had on her arms to address them.

“Hello officer Thomas, I was informed that you’ll come to suck us dry again today.” The woman that Marco swore he knew said. 

“Come on, I don’t treat you guys so badly, do I?” Jackie said while being mocking and menacing at the same time, the welcoming party just gave a snort. 

“Hey, I love how the boss gets after one of your visits, if you could go a little harder, I wouldn’t mind.” She extended her hand to Jackie who high five it, Marco was now growing desperate, who was this woman? 

_ “God damn it! I have it on the tip of my tongue!”  _ The knight heard his cursed heart being just as frustrated as he was. 

“Come on in.” The short woman beckoned them in and the professional woman turned around to guide them deeper inside but what Marco saw after she turned around was the clue he needed, he stopped dead in his tracks and screamed in surprise. 

“CHANTELLE?!” Was Marco’s revelation, the woman in question stopped and he could swear she hissed at him. 

“Sir. Diaz, I usually welcome the stares but being recognized by my derriere alone is SOMETHING ELSE!” Chantelle didn’t even turn to glare daggers at him, Jackie filled in for the glare portion though. 

“Really dude?” Jackie asked a bit with disappointment and a bit with disbelief.

“I swear it’s just that it hit me when she turned around.” Jackie’s glare deepened while Chantelle finally turned around and yes she was also glaring daggers at the Latino. 

“Nice way to phrase it, look Sir. Diaz, I don’t have all day to discuss if you are either deprived or depraved, so can we get going?” The infuriated woman turned around once more and kept going without waiting for an answer.

_ “Huh? I would say a little bit of both, she may be on to something, by the way, I know you are staring at it right now, so here is your scale, Star rates flat, Jackie rates junk in the trunk and Hekapoo rates OHHHHH MAMA! Where do you think this, by your own experience, hypnotic booty rates?”  _ Marco clenched his teeth and fists. 

“Sir. Diaz, are you enjoying the view or is it frustrating you? You are really incomprehensible.” Chantelle deadpanned.

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop now.” Marco said in defeat. 

“If I got a nickel every time I’ve heard something like that.”  __

They finally arrived at a door labeled “BRITTNEY WONG”, when they entered the woman in question was glaring at the door, her black hair still reaching her waist and her make up perfect, she was wearing a pantsuit and was sitting on an enormous leather chair in behind of a mahogany desk. 

“Officer Thomas...Barfo.” The Asian woman was pretty much grinding her teeth at those words. 

“She loves you, huh?” Jackie turned to Marco. 

“The price of fame.” Marco responded, some of his good mood returning. 

“Ok, Wong, any luck?” Brittney was visibly shaking with anger but after a deep breath, she responded. 

“No, not even a little, I put an assistant to check since you called the past week and we came out clean, not a single recent thing on Janna Ordonia, not our security cameras, nor our records, I don’t know what you were expecting to find, she just worked here for a month, two months before she disappeared or whatever.” The anger came back to the boss of the building full force after she finished. 

“Damn it! This might be a crapshoot but can you remember anything she said before quitting?” Jackie inquired.

“I. Don’t. Interact. With. The. Plebs.” Brittney put her foot down.

“Ok, ok, thanks for your time Wong.” Jackie raised her hands in a sign of peace while she and Marco quickly left the room. 

“Sorry about that one Marco, I just found out that Janna used to work here, thought I would get a lead, but who is going to remember something from so far away?” they started going back with Chantelle guiding them again.

“But Brittney was way too angry just to see you, what was that all about?” Marco changed the topic with great curiosity, Jackie seemed surprised. 

“Oh yeah! That would be weird, isn’t it? *Giggle* it’s because with the landmarks and buildings from Mewnie just falling into our world, many illegal moves by companies were cracked open, you know, like a lake of Mewnie appearing on an illegal landfill or stuff like that, and we’ve been taking some more donations than usual since.” Jackie gave a mischievous smile, Marco has been learning a lot of new sides of Jackie on these 3 days. 

“Yep and she is usually the one that comes to collect them, that’s why the boss gets so prickly whenever Jackie is involved, I was looking forward to you bullying some more money out of her, but it turns out it was about Janna being missing, you know, I actually liked Janna.” Chantelle decided to chime in and offhandedly remarked that last part. 

“She was a total bum, showed up late, made all her assignments with the minimal amount of effort and made my life a living hell by making Brittany get up my ass whenever her shit started to affect her team but when the boss finally wanted to fire her...she just strolled into her office and told her nonchalantly that she quit, Brittney’s face was priceless, I will never forget that day, if I remember correctly, Janna said something about only wanting enough money for a new beanie, that’s all I’ve got if that helps you.” Chantelle turned to show a small smile to the two people following her only to see that Marco’s eyes pretty much screamed “EUREKA”. 

“That helps plenty!” Marco had gotten overly excited and picked up the short secretary on a hug, the confused woman just stood frozen by this. 

“Hurry Jackie, we need to go buy tennis balls.” Marco let Chantelle down on the floor gently and started running towards the exit. 

“Wait, tennis balls?” Jackie followed the bolt that Marco had become with some confusion, while Chantelle just remained frozen from the surprise. 

“Ok...back to work then.” Chantelle said as she straightened herself out, on her hands a folder labeled “Butterfly trade plan”. 

***On a back alley***

“Marco, dude, I hope you know what you are doing, this place was a red zone even before the cleaving.” Jackie said nervously. 

“I’m sure.” As they entered through a knitted curtain, the welcoming party revealed itself, about two dozen people, humans and monsters alike all with the commonality that they were wearing hand-knitted clothes. 

“Oi! Lookie here, a knight in shining armor!” a tall and lanky man walked towards them, hunching over to look Marco straight on the eye. 

“What’s a celebrity doing here? If you want something nice for the side ho, we could make you a nice deal.” The man leaned over to look at Jackie, Marco meanwhile was scanning the room. 

“Where is Needles? Is he still here?” Marco asked, that seemed to trigger everyone on that alley into fight or flight mode, as everyone took their knitting needles and brandished them as knives. 

“Oi! The knighty knows a thing or two! Too bad he doesn’t know a smart way to pick a figh-.” Marco extended his hand towards the man, his expression serious and unflinching. 

“Those who give shall never need.” Marco said, every person on the alley had a surprised expression plastered on their face while they lowered their weapons, the tall man took a second look at the hand outstretched to him and with a sigh he took it. 

“Those who take shall forever bleed, I hope you understand we aren’t going all buddy-buddy with some pig on a different uniform.” The man beckoned for them to follow. 

“never expected you to.” Marco and Jackie followed the man to a hand-knitted tent, inside was a burly man wearing pants and a vest both hand-knitted, with a scar going from his forehead to his right cheek passing through his glassy right eye and his hair was fashioned into a bun that was stabbed by knitting needles making it look like a ball of yarn. 

“Hey! A celebrity! SUP?!” the man said all on one go. 

“Hi, Needles.” Marco said as if he was just meeting an old friend.

“What do you need, knight? You will look great on that armor you use on tv and a scarf as blue as the sky.” The man gave his sales pitch as if he was selling one of the seven wonders to the knight, Marco just gave the man a smile. 

“Nah, I usually wear red, a light blue would not do, but I’m here for something else though.” Marco took an unopened tube of tennis balls from his hoddie’s pocket, as soon as he opened it about seven little pugs appeared from under hand-knitted blankets or entered the tent on a frenzy, Marco let the three tennis balls fall on the floor and even before they hit the ground the little dogs had already snatched them and started playing with them. 

“There’s plenty more where that came from, now, have you seen Janna?” Needles looked dejected from the question. 

“Little crazy girly used to come here about once a week, I haven’t seen her in a while.” Both Marco and Jackie were disappointed, frustrated, and ready to leave but Needles continued before they could even hang their heads down properly. 

“I mean it’s been two months since I last saw her, what’s up with that?” Needles finished and Jackie quickly grabbed Needles by the vest. 

“Two months is great! Did she say anything? Do you remember where she went? Anything at all?” Jackie desperately listed off all her questions. 

“Well she asked for 2 beanies that time, the same as usual and a bigger one with a hole on the front, I would be asking why she needed that but...” Needles got outside the tent where the rest of the gang was, getting near a humanoid crocodile currently knitting a leg warmer while sitting on a crate, as soon as he saw Needles approaching he got off the crate and continued his work sitting on the floor. 

Opening the crate, Needles started to throw out dark green beanie after dark green beanie, some were scorched, others were ripped by claws, others were worn out and finally, he took out one on his hands. 

“Janna was something special, our knitting is the best there is, I’ve been wearing this outfit for 5 years now and it’s still as good as new but that girly could destroy even our most careful work in a week but the last time she came in...It was weird even for her, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.” Needles showed the beanie, it had a big hole as if something had burst off it, it was also dusty and had lots of black fur stuck to it, Needles gave the destroyed hat to Marco, with a nod and four other cylinders of tennis balls used as payment the duo left the street. 

“So I bully corporations for donations and you have connections with street gangs, anything else to confess?” Jackie said while inspecting the beanie closely. 

_ “You drive me as crazy as the first time I saw you, I’m just less of a wuss that’s why I’m talking to you.”  _ Marco went on a panic thinking he said that out loud again. 

“Woah! Ok, no more secrets you want to confess right now, I get it.” Jackie said, taking her eyes off the beanie. 

_ “Ahahaha, got you.”  _ Greedy Heart laughed vociferously without stop.

“So about this beanie, I recognize this weird dust at least, it came from the outskirts of town, specifically that mountain from Mewni with an abandoned mine in it.” Marco stopped death on his tracks and Greedy Heart stopped his laugh as if a switch was flipped. 

“You mean the one filled with TERRITORIAL, giant spiders?” Marco knew that place well, keeping it corded off and safe was one of his first assignments as a knight, also it was like half a mile from Sabrina’s clinic he could always see it from there. 

“Yep the one where the weak and starving spiders crawl down from to eat civilians because of the strong ones hording all the food inside.” Jackie said solemnly, they both gave each other a resolute look and both whistled, Nachos came diving at the sound, both Jackie and Marco mounted her on a leap as she changed direction to avoid the pavement. 

As they were going max speed directly towards the mountain Marco could hear Greedy Heart repeating like a mantra. 

_ “Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok.”  _

***At the mountain***

Nachos took them to the entrance of the mine and left, both looked at Nachos as she left. 

“You sure you don’t want her here?” Jackie asked. 

“One giant spider almost ate both of us in an open plane, I don’t want her anywhere near those things especially where there is almost no room for her to escape.” The pair took a calming breath before entering the mine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... after reading it again this chapter felt more like a necessity than a good chapter, I needed them to find a trail and they found it without much effort, the good part about this is that I feel like the story really picks up from here. 
> 
> Anyways thanks everyone for your time and attention. 
> 
> And if you have any comments I'll be happy to read them, I hope you are well and having a good day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Serves me right for acting like giving these a second pass was easy, sorry for the wait on this one, no excuses here it should have been here like 2 days ago.

The mine had been abandoned for decades thanks to those spiders, the ceilings were tall and if it was whether because the mine was made like this or the spiders did it after making it their lair was unclear to the duo. The place was also humid, dark, unkempt and filled with webs. Jackie was leading, her lantern and revolver at the ready.

“You sure about that gun? That thing will alert every single spider inside this mine.” Marco whispered to Jackie. 

“You want me to put you and your scissors in front?” Jackie gave an incredulous look at the aforementioned tool. 

Marco without missing a beat cut a stalagmite he had besides his head as if it were butter. 

“Ohhhh! Savage.” Jackie somehow sounded both mocking and impressed. 

“All right then scissor boy, you are in charge of the lantern.” Jackie nonchalantly threw the lantern to him. 

“Why do I think you are not all that convinced?” Marco caught it and got in front passing by a shrugging Jackie. 

They both continued to venture deeper into the mines, getting lost on serpentine paths, dead ends, and innumerable crossroads for what felt like hours. 

“Hey, don’t you think this is weird?” Jackie started. 

“Yeah, Besides abandoned webs, we haven’t seen a hint of the giant spiders so far.” They continued the conversation as they walked. 

“They have been quiet lately, do you think they starved with you guys cording this place up? And when they went hunting downtown was a last-ditch effort?” Jackie said hopefully. 

“I would love that but we’ve seen plenty of big harmless bugs around here, there is enough for them to eat.” Marco explained. 

_ “Happy for another extinction because of you, huh?”  _ Marco could imagine Greedy Heart wagging its eyebrow in a playful way, they stopped for a bit near another abandoned web. 

“Yeah, they also don’t eat bones and this place is completely clean, maybe we haven’t found the nest.” Jackie said inspecting the web. 

“Not likely, those things are very territorial, they don’t even form family units so making a big communal nest would be impossible so where are they and especially where is Ja-.” Marco stayed pensive until a small sound echoed through the tunnel and both of them shared a knowing nod. 

Killing the light both followed the sound to its source, they came to a dead-end and saw a shadow clad on the same cloak Mina and her followers used. 

“Levitato.” they heard the shadow say and...nothing happened, they saw the shadow kick the dead-end only to squeal in pain, stand on one foot to grab his aching one and fall down for not being able to keep its balance on just one leg. 

Maco felt a hand on top of his, he almost cracked his neck of how fast he turned to see who it was. He couldn’t see clearly in the dark but he could see that seafoam green even on this darkness and if his ears weren’t playing tricks on him, she was stifling a laugh. 

_ “She is a fucking treasure!!!”  _ The cursed heart screamed to what Marco felt right on his ear. 

“I think we finally found a substantial lead.” Jackie whispered in his ear. 

_ “Ahahaha, that got you excited? How much of a lightweight are you? Ahahahaa.”  _ That had indeed sent shivers down Marco’s spine. 

“That little munchkin seems way too clumsy to notice us, we just hit the jackpot.” Jackie continued whispering confidently to her partner’s ear. 

They both followed the tall shadow as it stumbled, tripped, fell and slipped all over the place and saw as it tried to open various dead-ends with no success, Jackie once again stifling a laugh got near Marco’s ear. 

“I know this guy is with Mina and all, but I’m actually feeling sorry for the poor dude.” Marco barely heard what Jackie was saying because the shadow started to become more and more familiar to him and it was distracting him. 

After a few minutes, the cloaked figure came into another tunnel, this one seemed the same as every other tunnel, except, Marco felt Jackie tapping his shoulder and heard her whisper. 

“Marco, dude, look up.” Had there been light on the cavern Marco could have seen just how pale Jackie was, as he looked up to the ceiling of the tunnel he saw dozens of packs of eight eyes looking intently at the person now traversing the tunnel, both of them didn’t even think about it, both went to take the clumsy figure to safety. 

“Levitato.” The figure said for the thirtieth time but this time it worked the boulder at the end of the tunnel started to lift, the tunnel started to fill with light as both Marco and Jackie ran towards Mina’s henchman. The spiders noticed the duo and pounced on them. 

“Watch out!” Marco managed to scream as he and Jackie tackled the person on the cloak into the path that was recently opened, the spiders falling close behind them but with the caster losing focus the boulder went down closing the opening for the spiders. 

The second Marco could see his surroundings he understood Jackie’s reaction a second ago, his face went pale, his jaw slacked, his eyes went wide and his pupils became pins. 

Right in front of him, there was an enormous cave lit by various torches and a big ball of light in the middle of the cave, most importantly under the shining light were hundreds of cloaked figures, all of them training, with swords, bows and using giant spiders as mounts. 

A giant spider was being surrounded by a team of tamed ones being ridden by cloaked figures, the spider was showing signs of aggression obviously feeling cornered, the raiders all chanted in unison “LEVITATO.” and the feral spider started to levitate and to trash violently. 

One of the cloaked ones got near the confused spider and with a chant of “All instincts suppressed, all wills bent, make all beasts obey my whims.” a lasso of blue light materialized on his arms, lasso which was used to tie around the spider’s thorax, the spider continued to trash for a few seconds until it stopped completely, when the spider was still the cloaked riders let it gently down on its feet, when it was on the ground the cloaked figure that used the lasso got near it to pet it and to Marco’s surprise it was a gesture that the spider gratefully accepted. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Jackie said in horror. 

“Incredible ain’t it? Took quite a while to get them to this point, but they are stubborn these lot! They learn enthusiastically and without rest!” A crazed voice said beside them, as they turned the owner of the voice was revealed, a smirking Mina Loveberry was leaning on the boulder that now covered the entrance. 

“Great job there, leading them here and everything.” The nutty knight spared a glance to the figure under Jackie and Marco, a glance that the latino knight followed because of the light sound of sobbing, and under the cloak, he saw a sobbing girl, fair skin, green eyes, slightly long brown hair done on a ponytail. 

“Sabrina!?” Marco’s surprised scream grabbed the attention of all the members of the cult present.

“No time!” Jackie stood up in a hurry and took Marco’s arms as she ran with him in tow. 

“Good luck~!” They heard Mina say smugly. 

Their path was quickly blocked by a giant spider, Jackie brandished her revolver and shot the beast on the eye, as the spider recoiled in pain Marco finally got his bearings back to him and jumped to stab his scissors into another of the monster’s eyes. 

The spider reeling back suddenly jolted forward throwing Marco into the ground and sent the scissors flying, Jackie grabbed them in mid-air and landed directly on the spider’s head using her whole weight to stab it, the beast once again reeled back and using the momentum Jackie tackled the raider off the spider’s back. 

“Ok, I admit it now, these scissors are awesome!” Jackie said playing around with the scissors and holstering them like a gun. 

_ “Boy was that hot.”  _ Marco really wished his heart could find a better time for this. 

“We’ll talk about how great they are outside, ok?” Marco said punching out one of the cloaked ones as three more were trying to surround him. 

Marco punched the one directly in front of him, using the opportunity the other two pounced at the knight but Jackie used her shoulder to tackle both of them to the ground. 

“Come on you two, I’m way lighter than you two I’m sure.” Jackie said throwing Marco his scissors back and they went back to run to find an exit. 

“Do you see anything?” Marco asked. 

“Yes, lots of crazy cultists and brainwashed giant spiders!” Jackie answered. 

“I meant an exit!” Marco’s voice once again was cracking like an egg on a car compactor.

“And I mean LOTS OF CRAZY CULTIST AND BRAINWASHED GIANT SPIDERS!” Jackie pointed at an open tunnel being guarded by the aforementioned things. 

“We are outnumbered and there’s only one way out.” both looked at each other and smirked, “so our only chance is to force open the way out.” Jackie gave him a nod. 

Both charged directly at one of the spiders, once again Jackie shot at the beast and using his scissors Marco cut off two of the monstrous arachnid's front legs and Jackie jumped into the spider’s back to kick off the rider making a hole in the barricade, hole that allowed them to enter the tunnel. 

As they advanced into the tunnel a web was shot from one of the spiders from the barricade and stuck to Jackie’s leg that began to reel her in, Marco took his scissors and turned back to cut off the web, but before he could free the cop, he heard a snap of fingers and a raspy voice saying “Chicken butt” his world turned dark on a dime and all he could hear was Jackie’s desperate “Marco! Marco!” screams. 

***A few hours later***

Marco’s world came back slowly and painfully first in fuzzy shapes and unrecognizable noises until everything cleared, he and Jackie were in what looked like a small storage room with a crude door, the place was lit by a few torches, he was chained from the wrist to the ceiling while kneeling, Jackie, on the other hand, was sitting on the floor beside him, her hands tied behind her back and her ankles were tied together, but as soon as he woke up Marco’s head went on a different direction. 

“Janna! Janna where did you go!?” Marco screamed in hysterics. 

“Dude, chill out, we haven’t found her yet.” Jackie said squirming to release herself while Marco was panting. 

“She is here.” Marco retorted, still disoriented but sure. 

“What? Did you see her?” Jackie was surprised at the statement.

“No, but only she can knock me out like I was in that tunnel.” Marco explained. 

“How would she knock you out without you even noticing her there? And most importantly why would she do that in that situation? You are making no sense.” The conversation was cut short by Mina Loveberry kicking the door open while boisterously exclaiming. 

“Wakey! Wakey! Eggs and bakey!” She said that and hunched over Marco with a wicked smile as she snapped her fingers. 

“Chicken butt.” Marco was unphased, Mina seemed annoyed and tried a few more times. 

“So that’s how?” Jackie asked. 

“Yep, that's how.” While Marco was embarrassed about the fact, he was more focused on watching Mina fruitlessly try to knock him out using Janna’s hypnosis. 

“Bah! Useless mumbo jumbo!” Mina stood straight while inspecting her fingers as she snapped them slowly. 

“MINA!” A booming voice came from outside making Mina stand firm and on attention giving a salute. 

“SIR!” A big burly man got inside the storage room he looked a bit bigger than Marco’s father, a full beard, unkempt hair, wide nose, small brown eyes, and multiple scars adorned his hardened face, his robe barely containing his enormous shoulders, the man got near the two law enforcers and sat down. 

“So, you are the leader of the knights?” Marco ignored the man and looked at Mina. 

“Is this the leader that’s not you?” This visibly irritated Mina. 

“He is talking to you, you monster smoochin-” Mina got in position to smack the knight but the burly man stopped her. 

“Now, now, Mina, it’s ok and yes, I am the leader of this group, My name is Johnathan, I wanted to talk a bit more Sir. Diaz but as you obviously don’t, I will just ask, Do you believe your actions five years ago were the right ones? Was a relationship with a princess worth all that has happened since?” Johnathan said in a calm voice as he stared dead on Marco’s glare with a neutral face, nobody knew about the cleaving of the words being because of him and Star with the exception of the people who were present at the time, guess Mina could put two and two together or just blamed them...without knowing she was indeed right. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Marco said matter of factly, the gigantic man stood up to leave. 

“Don’t disturb them, Mina, we captured one of their leaders, that’s enough of a win, no need to flaunt it.” He said with a warm smile towards Mina who gave a shy “Yes, sir” in response. 

“Oh! And meddling is not my intention but I think that girl over there looks miles better than the little princess, good job.” Marco’s glare deepened along with a blush while he saw Johnathan closing the door as he vociferously laughed. 

“What was that all about?” Jackie said beet red as well. 

Marco didn’t even have a chance to answer when the door opened slowly, Sabrina entered the room and carefully closed the door behind her, her eyes were red and puffy, Marco’s mouth was quickly sealed shut the moment he saw her. 

“Marco, I’m sorry, it wasn’t my intention to lead you guys here, I swear I didn’t even notice you.” Sabrina said in between small sobs. 

“I believe her on that.” Jackie deadpanned, Marco stayed silent. 

“Marco, please, I was just trying to be safe, my parents were stationed on that clinic to treat anyone attacked on the wild by feral monsters but that exposed us too much, Mr. Johnathan promised us to keep us safe only in exchange for medical supplies and treatment.” Sabrina begged when Marco stayed silent, she turned to his chest. 

“You understand at least don’t you? I was sincerely trying to help you two.” Jackie was visibly confused by what was happening now, way more when she started to hear giggling that she didn’t know from inside the room. 

“So that’s what happened.” Marco said in a warm reassuring voice. 

_ “Awww! Why did you stop her? I was enjoying that.”  _ Marco’s chest lit up and a face with a big smile appeared, Jackie’s eyes widened.

“Ok, this is getting creepy, what is going on?” Jackie asked. 

“Long story short, I’m cursed with something, this juvenile, meddling and crude being has been inside my head for less than a week and it’s been driving me insane.” Marco said after a calming breath. 

“I haven’t found anything on this thing by the way, even though...being here I’ve gotten plenty of resources on magic and yet.” Sabrina said as she cleaned the few tears that managed to escape a few moments ago. 

“Ok, Ok, let’s slow down a bit, ok dudes? Marco and I came here for one explicit purpose, to find a woman named Janna Ordonia, you remember her? She was also in our grade in high school, Marco swears she is here.” Jackie tried to bring back the conversation to their original purpose but Sabrina got frightened by the question.

“Janna!?” Sabrina screamed with the same surprise Marco screamed her own name hours ago and then the door was once again kicked open but this time by a...unicorn. 

“Yes? Right here Sab, what’s up?” A cloaked figure said, the person was riding on top of a black unicorn with completely white eyes. 

The figure dismounted and took off the cloak revealing short dark bluish hair, two rings on her right brow decorating her brown eyes, she was wearing a dark green tank top showing her tattoo of a skull tangled up by thorny vines with roses on her left shoulder, a blue jacket tied on her waist on top of her yellow skirt, a pair of brown boots and to top it all off an olive green beanie hat. 

“Man are those things stuffy.” the woman said as she took off her beanie leaving it in a pocket of her jacket and retrieving a second one, turning to the unicorn she said with a smirk “And you, time to go back home.” The unicorn turned the size of a small puppy and got on top of the woman’s head, she then covered her head and the unicorn with another beanie with a hole on the front, hole that the unicorn used as a window to peek its head out of. 

“Janna!? Janna what the hell!?” Jackie was raging at the scene in front of her. 

“Mistress! This is a misunderstanding! I assure you! Please let me explain!” Sabrina begged on her knees, her forehead and palms touching the ground, Jackie and Marco saw this display flabbergasted. 

“Is it Sab? How do you explain the whole begging forgiveness to a knight and admitting how flimsy your loyalty to our cause is?” Janna said with a smirk and while Marco couldn't see her face he could see that Sabrina was shaking in fear. 

“Now Sab, how do you pledge?” Janna squatted down in front of Sabrina, the kneeling woman started to shake more violently and sobs started to escape her, Janna gave a laugh and put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Ok, ok, I push this a little bit more and you would pee yourself and nobody wants that.” Janna stood up and looked at Jackie with the smirk never leaving her face. 

“Sorry that I never told you what’s up, Jackie, but let’s admit it, telling the police I was joining up with a...well a terrorist cell would have been the stupidest thing I could have done.” Janna said with a shrug and a cackle to Jackie’s glaring face, she turned to see Marco who was completely speechless and approached him. 

“AWWWW! You look so cute, what is it? Disappointed? Angry?...Scared?” Janna said mockingly as she grabbed Marco’s cheek gently but the surprise was hers when Marco leaned into her touch, soft sobs started to come from Marco. 

“I’m-I’m just so glad you are ok.” Marco said with pure relief, looking directly at Janna’s eyes as he said it, Janna was surprised once again but composed herself quickly. 

“Aren’t you the sweetest?” Janna said with a cutesy voice as she stroked Marco’s cheek, she put her free hand next to his face and snapped her fingers “Chicken butt.”. 

And with that Marco’s world once again went completely black. 


	6. Dancing with witches

Marco opened his eyes to be once again greeted by the small storage room he was imprisoned in and by Jackie dangling upside down from the ceiling softly rocking back and forth, her hands were also tied together by the wrists, and her position allowed her hair to dangle as well leaving her dozens of piercings on her ears at full view for Marco. 

_ “Kind of forgot about those, weird how good they match her, huh?” _ Greedy Heart said sincerely impressed.

“Welcome back to the world of the living dude.” Jackie said casually while softly rocking back and forth still.

“Ehm, hmmm.” Marco was at a loss for words, Jackie squinted at him. 

“Marco if I never told you before, I’m gonna say it now, if you wanna know something just spit it!” Jackie said annoyed, she was giving Marco her back since she started to slowly rotate on her own axis. 

“Well...Why are you tied up like that?” Marco asked quickly. 

“See, dude? Easy.” Jackie said in a congratulatory way “When Janna knocked you out, I jumped at her and gave her a good ol’ headbutt right on the nose.” Jackie said proudly. 

“Sabrina pulled me off of her though, hope that gives her some trust points, she is very helpful.” Marco looked at her in disbelief, a gesture that Jackie missed since she hadn’t spun back to face Marco. 

“Why do you say that?” Marco asked when Jackie took too much time to face him. 

“Oh! She fed me a lot of information while she was hanging me from the ceiling, the poor girl is a total klutz, even with all those spells it took her like, two hours...She cares about you a lot dude.” Jackie answered. 

“Of course she does, she is a total sweetheart.” Marco heard Gree- 

“Nice to know you also hold her in high regard, heck she even knew about your chest face thingie.” Jackie said in high spirits and Marco remembered that yeah, Jackie now knew about Greedy Heart. 

_ “I know what you are thinking about, go ahead tell her, I’m sure she is going to love hearing that you don’t actually believe all the compliments you’ve been paying her the last three days.”  _ Greedy Heart said between chuckles. 

“What info did she give you.” Marco desisted on pinning all the compliments and awkward situations on Greedy Heart and he really didn’t understand why, that would have been the best and easiest path. 

“Well, I finally have the breaking news on their magic power, it was that unicorn Janna had, that unicorn appears to be a walking magic dispenser, so they somehow got Janna to join along with her unicorn like 2 years ago and ever since they’ve been training on magic, from what Sabrina tells me she even made that gigantic ball of light to be used as a portable magic battery too.” Marco understood the second he saw that unicorn, a survivor of the magic dimension, probably why his heart ended up as it did. 

“So Janna became a witch? Yeah sounds like her.” Marco said with a smile. 

“You sound pretty relaxed about this dude.” Jackie said confused. 

“Well it’s Janna, no matter what creepy shit she pulls off, no matter how much she annoys me, she has never been against me, I just know that there is either an explanation or this is just Janna being Janna for a bit and then it will bite these guys on their ass.” Marco stated as if it was obvious, Jackie looked at him confused from her peripheral vision, she was giving Marco her side at the moment. 

“You trust her that much? She has been my friend for as long as I can remember and getting tied up in a supply room and then being mocked for it, kinda diminished mine a bit.” Jackie said in a serious tone. 

“Don’t worry about her, she is going to be on our side when it matters, did Sabrina say anything else?” Marco said sure of himself, This snapped Jackie to attention. 

“Yes! Very bad news, there is going to be a ball on Mewni castle the day after tomorrow and these guys want to barge in without invitation, with all the magic powers and the spiders.” Jackie said, finally rotating to face Marco. 

“So that’s why they’ve been quiet, they were waiting, I knew it!” Marco said. 

“Now the question is, your parents said you were on vacation...and they are making a ball without their leader of the knights?” 

“Heh, me being paranoid about stuff like that is the only reason why Moon and Eclipsa accepted this vacation proposal from Star, I admit, I’m kind of a bother in those situations.” This seemed to confuse Jackie. 

“Really? Heh, that’s weird.” 

“Why weird?” Now Marco was confused. 

“You know, when you simply went out to live on another dimension leaving your family and friends behind, I thought that the safe kid was completely gone, you know? I thought that you were now ready to wing it, to just take the bull by the horns the second it came at you, instead of making a ten-step plan for when the bull comes at you and here you are telling me that you are the same safety nut, just with a shiny armor.” Jackie said with a bit of a giggle. 

_ “Wow! She even left out the part where the biggest sacrifice you did to go live on another dimension WAS HER! When will this woman get tired of proving that you don’t deserve her?” _ Marco heard an indignant voice on his head. 

“Is it really that admirable to just bite the bullet?” Marco didn’t know who he was responding to, his friend or his own damn heart. 

“Heh, maybe not that much, I just keep thinking, it would be nice if I could do it.” Jackie said, a bit nostalgic. 

“What do you mean? You were the coolest person in high school and you even got on an exchange program to France, you bit the bullet then at least.” Marco answered reassuringly. 

“Yeah I kind of did, I thought that if I did that, I would be like you, I really admire what you did, such a big sacrifice to throw yourself into something completely unknown, but in the end, I came back home and couldn’t follow Chloé when she did what you did...I just wonder if being able to throw myself into the unknown would have at least saved my relationships.” Jackie ended the statement with a somber sigh. 

_ “Do you think she actually misses you? Or the relationshipSSSS part was just a slip of the tongue? Personally, I go for the latter”  _

“Hey, Jackie, now is not the time to be feeling blue, come on, we need to get out of here and I need to get you some glory with Mewni royalty, the cop that blew the lid off an attack of this scale? You are going straight to the history books.” Marco gave a confident smile to the downcast woman, he caught a new glimmer in her eyes, then she averted her eyes in pain. 

“Sorry dude, getting dizzy, blood going to my head.” She said laughing and Marco followed suit.

The door opened delicately and a wary Sabrina entered the room, she was being overly cautious as she closed the door behind her as carefully as possible after checking outside if anyone had followed her. 

“Are you ok Marco?” Sabrina asked. 

“Yeah, Janna just has a few tricks over me, nothing to worry about...soooo you are helping us out?” Sabrina’s expression soured a bit. 

“Yes, I am, but I can’t be of much help to you guys, my parents are also tied to this, I’ll give you this map and I’ll go, and I will have to stop you if I see you outside.” Sabrina had a resolute look on her face and left the map on Marco’s hoodie, Marco’s face just softened. 

“Thank you very much, I’ll never be able to repay all the help you’ve given me.” Sabrina freed Marco’s wrists and turned on her heel. 

“Just, good luck.” Not Marco nor Jackie could see her face as she left but her voice sounded heavy and forced, and she left with the same care as she entered. 

“She is something else isn’t she?” Marco said to Jackie as he freed her. 

“I say, she kind of reminds me of you, no matter how hard it is for her, she tries.” Jackie said on Marco’s arms as he got her upright to leave her standing on the ground. 

_ “Poor girls… They think way too highly of you.” _ Greedy Heart said as if it was holding back tears. 

“She left me this, let’s put it to good use.” Marco showed her the map “I’ll go here-”.

“Whoa! Whoa! What do you mean with that? The exit is on the opposite side and is really near us.” Jackie said with a scowl and an annoyed tone, Marco sighed. 

“Look, Jackie, we need someone to break the news at the castle-.” 

“And they are going to trust a random cop as easily as their captain? Come on man, what do you want me to do? Get home and tell Nachos that you maybe aren’t coming back and if you don’t I’m gonna be the one breaking the news to your parents, can you even imagine what Angie would do to me?” Jackie continued her explanation. 

“I’m not leaving without my scissors ok, look Sabrina even marked where they are, you escape and I find my scissors.” Marco responded with finality. 

“Then we aren’t leaving without the scissors then? Ok, then we just have to get to them quickly.” 

“Jackie we need at least one of us to escape.” 

“Look you are not leaving without those scissors and I’m not leaving without you, someone has to bend and it’s not going to be me.” Jackie crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the knight. 

***A few minutes later***

“So is it here?” Jackie said, entering a small chamber on the system of caves and tunnels. 

“Yes, it is here.” Marco said entering behind her, the road to his scissors has been easy, there has been minimal security all the way through. 

The chamber was dark but as soon as they set foot inside it, it lit up with a big number of torches with a curious purplish flame. 

“Wow! Little Sab, you not only are a witch but an oracle too, imagine my shock.” Janna said sitting on a little altar with Marco’s scissors on hand, giving them a little twirl for good measure, the witch had a very prominent bruise on her nose and besides her was a very scared but very determined Sabrina clutching a book to her chest almost painfully so. 

“So you knew we were coming?” Jackie said getting on a fighting stance. 

“HAH! No one here even fucking doubted that you two would break out, it was just a matter of when, we just thought you would be smarter and go for the exit that’s why most of our men are over there, but my brave little pupil here begged to be the one to guard this little tools, oh! she was so sure you would come back for them.” Janna patted Sabrina on the back and added a little dramatic flair to her speech. 

“So of course her master had to accompany her.” Janna said sounding more in line with her devil may care attitude as she stood on top of the altar, creating a purplish flame like the ones on the torches on her hand to then touch her nose with it and causing the bruise on her nose to disappear, Marco walked past Jackie and stood in the middle of the chamber. 

“Janna, you know how much I suffered to get those scissors, just return them please.” Marco said, outstretching his open hand in anticipation, Janna took the scissors to her lips in a thinking pose.

“Hmmm, Marco please refresh my memory, when was the last time you got back anything I took from you?” She said in a mocking tone with a mischievous smile. 

Marco launched himself at Janna from his spot and even as Marco’s hand was just inches away from his scissors Janna didn’t react but the apprentice witch did.

“Levitato!” Sabrina chanted beside Janna, causing Marco to stop mid-air on a blue aura and was thrown across the room beside Jackie. 

“Let me guess now it’s not when it matters?” Jackie told Marco.

“Guess not.” Said the knight as he stood up. 

“Come on guys, it's time to give the people a show, don’t you think?” Janna said as she snapped her fingers, with that a bunch of ethereal looking eyeballs appeared from the unusual torches on the chamber, Jackie examined one of them closely and noticed that the rest of Mina’s group could be seen on them kind of like a window and then Janna snapped her finger a second time causing the entrance to be sealed by a boulder. 

“When did you become such an attention whore Janna? You usually do your creepy stuff away from the spotlight.” Jackie said, running towards Janna. 

“Hey can’t blame a girl for wanting some attention from time to time, THRONE ROACH!!!” The altar that Janna was standing on turned into a seat with insect-like legs in a flash and just as fast the throne was created it ran a complete circle in the chamber stopping on the ceiling evading Jackie completely with Janna casually sitting on her new upside-down position. 

“Starlight” Sabrina screamed and a flash-bang appeared from behind Janna blinding Marco who had jumped at the mobile seat from behind. 

“Got you Sab, ROCK WORM!!!” The ground started shaking, a boulder lifted Sabrina off the ground and tried to tackle Jackie who dodged by jumping on top of the bouler. The boulder got Sabrina close to the approaching Janna who grabbed Sabrina and sat her on her lap.

“Thorn vines!” Sabrina chanted while wobbling on Janna’s lap and a thick coat of thorny vines latched itself to the boulder that was coming out the ground as a chain of boulders, the vines latching at every boulder this continued until the chain of boulders could circle the whole chamber. 

“I don’t think this is good.” Marco and Jackie said at the same time as one end of the chain of boulders stood up as if to inspect them closely. 

The worm golem got ready and rammed, both law enforcers jumped away from the attack but it did not stop there, as soon as the worm touched the floor it kept going, chasing after whoever it saw first, the roach throne included. 

Everyone on the chamber started to play a 3D demented version of snake, Marco ran away from the tip of the worm whenever he was targeted, Jackie jumped over the boulders with enough height to clear the thorns while Janna’s throne evaded the indiscriminate attack by crawling and sigzaging all over the ceiling and walls. The worm on its efforts to follow this ended up destroying the torches on the chamber but the flaming eyeballs stayed put on it’s place working like intangible spirits. 

Because of all the movement Sabrina was getting sick, her face turned slightly green, her eyes started to disorient and her stomach was more shaken than a soda can and was about to react as one, cupping her hands over her mouth and jolting her head back in order to keep everything inside her of leaving but that had consequences, as she jolted back her head hit Janna square on the nose, the hit disorienting her enough to lose her grip on the scissors on her hand. 

Taking the opportunity Jackie ran and caught the scissors mid-air, though because of focusing on catching the scissors more than in the landing she saw herself falling directly on the opposite end boulder of the worm, a boulder wrapped in thorns, closing her eyes and hoping for the best Jackie slashed at the deathtrap she was falling on top of, when she felt her shoulder hit the ground she opened her eyes a bit sore and very surprised to see the boulder cut in half and the worm squirming in pain. 

“Ok, I think these things are unrealistically sharp.” she said in a surprised stupor while standing up. 

“I know right!” Marco said in a congratulatory manner. 

_ “Of course, the best of the best!”  _ Greedy Heart lit up once again on Marco’s chest and screamed it’s proud response along with Marco’s. 

The worm stopped squirming and despite having Janna’s team and Marco right in its line of sight, the golem turned to “look” straight at Jackie and started to follow the dazed woman on a faster speed than before, Jackie ran straight at Marco and while passing beside him threw his scissors back at him. 

Marco with scissors in hand jumped out of the frenzied worm’s way, landing on his feet he targeted the closest boulder to him and slashed at it, the cycle started again, the worm squirm a bit and started to try to attack Marco exclusively when that happened the scissors once again changed hands and they kept at it until the worm that at the beginning of the fight could encircle the chamber with its length now it was just two boulders glued together, boulders that were charging directly at Marco. 

Marco, confident on this last hit, got in position to meet the worm’s attack head-on this time but as the monster was nearing the clash with the knight a voice was heard in the chamber. 

“Starlight” Sabrina chanted with her voice a bit strained by trying to contain the vomit out of her throat but it was effective, the flash-bang once again blinded Marco who caught the attack of the worm on his arms as he tried to defend himself, throwing him to the wall, his arms bleeding a bit by taking the attack of the thorns and the worm preparing for the next attack. 

The scissors once again went flying and got caught by the officer. Thomas, the cop ran towards the knight catching up with the golem worm, stopping her charge in front of the attacking monster and successfully clashing with it, cutting the last two boulders in half. 

Kneeling beside his hurt partner she offered her hand. 

“Can you stand?” She said with concern in her voice. 

“Yeah!...” Marco tried to stand but he fell on his stomach, with a groan he continued “Just give me a minute, ok?” He said struggling to breathe and making pressure on the injuries on his arms, Jackie stood up and turned to the upright throne in front of her, Jackie’s expression was livid. 

Sabrina was searching for a spell on a panic while Jackie approached with the scissors that had cut boulders like it was paper on hand, Janna just lifted her pierced eyebrow and turned to Sabrina. 

“Time for desperate measures, Sab.” Janna closed Sabrina’s book, Sabrina looked at her master as if pleading but Janna’s expression remained nonchalant, Sabrina gave a sigh and then both closed their eyes and the mini unicorn on Janna’s beanie poked out its head from the hole on it. 

“Tear reality, take me away, show me a different place, a different space.” Both witches chanted while the black unicorn burst out of Janna’s hat standing between its owner and Jackie, with a loud neigh of the horned horse the two magicians opened their eyes and both pairs were golden and shining.

The unicorn lit itself on a purple flame that started to spread on the floor like mud, Jackie took a step back and turned on her heel to go help Marco who was still on the floor but when she reached him the floor was completely covered, the two spell casters on a trance clapped their hands in unison and with that the floor turned light blue with swirling white stripes, Jackie’s and Marco’s surprise didn’t last long as the floor swallowed whole everyone present in the room in no more than 3 seconds. 

_ “OH! You crazy biiiiiiiiiiii~.”  _ Greedy Heart was the only one that could verbalize its feelings before being swallowed by the floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I took too much time but here it is. 
> 
> I am getting a bit anxious because I think that the rest of the chapters that I have to correct need a lot more than just a little grammar check (again if there are mistakes left I would love to be told about them so that I can correct them) but they need extra scenes, re-writes and stuff like that, so the next ones are actually going to need more work or in other words more time :S.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Marco was going to train with her outside taking advantage of the beautiful day, she was stretching and getting ready and Marco just occupied himself by watching her back as she did so… even if he did giggle because all he could actually see was a rustling mound of green hair._ **

**_His heart throbbed with both admiration and dread, she was strong, friendly and for as surprising as it was she made him feel actually reliable, but there was something off, he had to do this._ **

**_“Ready, Marco?” The woman said with enthusiasm and Marco took no time to charge her._ **

**_The girl took a step back and outstretched her palm that connected directly to Marco’s chin and just with a single push forward Marco was on the floor with the giggling mound of hair on top of him._ **

**_The girl straddling the Latino’s stomach took her hair off her face to finally let him see her body under all that hair._ **

**_“And that's how you do it!” The girl said with pride as she fully laid on top of the future knight._ **

**_“What’s on your head, break up buddy?” She asked while inching her lips closer to his, her eyes closing softly._ **

**_They locked lips, Marco was especially proactive today “Today is the last day, today is the last day.” he thought to himself._ **

**_Marco remembered his kiss with Jackie, it was much like Jackie herself relaxed and drawn out but this girl, she was playful, she bit on his lower lip, sucked on his tongue, took little breaks to kiss his neck and as a response he held her close to deepen the kiss._ **

**_As he was petting her wool-like long hair Marco noticed how she was giggling into his mouth, she was so happy about this, she was just so adorable and he was dragging her by the nose, his hands stopped caressing her hair and grabbed her shoulders, with a “plop” the two separated and she looked at Marco confused._ **

**_“What happened? Everything alright, Marco?” She was worried._ **

**_“It’s just that I’ve been thinking, we should stop this.” Marco stood up and walked away from her._ **

**_“You know this breakup buddy stuff it’s fun and all but I shouldn’t do it, I shouldn’t be doing this to you.” Marco didn’t even look at her._ **

**_“Oh! That’s ok, yeah I’ve been thinking about the same thing as you, we are just wasting our time, aren’t we? It’ll be better this way, isn’t it?” She said enthusiastically, Marco felt a shiver run down his spine, something just felt wrong about her response, it felt as if...she had actually given him a different answer at a different time._ **

**_“AHAHAHAHAHA, the one where Kelly was fine with the breakup and everything was nice and amicable, what other fairytales you wanna hear? The one where H-poo is still alive? Or the one where you didn’t burn every bridge imaginable to be with your little Star? AAAAAAAAAAAahahahahaha” Kelly was rolling on the floor but her voice wasn’t Kelly’s._ **

**_Marco approached her to look at her but as he reached his hand to her, Kelly jolted her head up to look at the Latino, Marco let out a scream of horror as he noticed that Kelly’s face had disappeared making way to the familiar neon purple face with a suction cup-like single eye._ **

**_“But kiddo, this isn’t what actually happened is it?” The bizarre Kelly said as she stood up as if she was lifted up by strings._ **

**_“It went more like this.” Greedy Heart snapped his fingers and an actual Kelly emerged from the floor, she had a thousand-yard stare that morphed into a melancholic look as she grabbed her left arm with her right._ **

**_“Is that how...you feel?... I see...it’s ok...thank you a lot for all the...time you spent with me.” Every pause was her choking down a sob as she refused to look at Marco in the eyes._ **

**_“No, wait, Kelly, please let me explain.” Marco tried to approach the morose Kelly but she just didn’t seem to get any closer, and while he was distracted Greedy Heart suddenly jumped right in front of Marco’s face making him scream and fall down on his rear._ **

**_“Awwww! So cute, what is there to explain, kiddo? I know! I’ll let you explain as much as you want.” With another snap of its fingers, Marco was surrounded by an army of Kellys, all looking just as crushed as the last one and all repeating the same sad response like a chorus that never stopped._ **

**_“Wait, Kelly, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, please understand.” He finally caught one of the Kellys and she looked at him dead in the eyes._ **

**_“Who’s Kelly?” The Kelly said once again with a voice that wasn’t Kelly’s or Greedy Heart’s._ **

Marco jumped awake surprising Jackie who was sitting beside him, Marco was shaken, his eyes darting everywhere trying to assess his whereabouts, he was on a clearing in a thick forest, the ground felt strangely wooly and the trees seemed to be trunks covered by different kinds of wigs, at this sight his panic began to rise but Jackie put a reassuring hand on his back. 

“Chill, chill dude, everything...well mostly everything is ok.” She said pointing at a tied up bashful Sabrina that waved at Marco with a blush and a Janna that seemed to have been awakened by what just happened, her cheeks were sunken, horrendous bags were under her eyes and she looked a bit pale, Janna was glaring at the pair with tired eyes. 

“Can you shut up about your old fuck body for five minutes?! Some people are trying to sleep!” That took the rest of the energy the witch had, she dropped to the ground with a ‘thud’ and loud snoring followed after. 

“Ohhh, so an old booty call then? Never pegged you for the type.” Jackie said and to Marco’s surprise, without a hint of disappointment. 

“Well...it wasn’t exactly like...that.” Marco started nervously  _ “Exactly, he was the booty call, not her.”  _ And Greedy Heart finished it. 

“Ok, can we go back to what is going on and not my past? Please.” Marco said a bit desperate, Sabrina hopped a bit on her rear in order to approach the two. 

“Well...The spell we used was a dimensional displacement one, it’s very hard and tiring to use.” Janna let out a particularly loud snore as if to accentuate this. 

“So we are in another dimension...we just kind of used it at a desperate time, we aren’t sure how to select a specific dimension either, we just jumped to a different one.” Sabrina said ashamed. 

“And there you have it, we are on a weird hairy dimension, we need food that I don’t know what is or isn’t here and even after the sleeping beauty over there wakes up all peppy and full of energy it’s gonna be a crapshoot if we go back to our own dimension or not, did I mentioned the locals are pretty violent? Because the locals are pretty violent so as I said almost everything is ok.” Jackie said in a relaxed tone, Sabrina’s shame seemed to multiply by this statement. 

“I’m sorry, I swear what I was trying to do was to lure you to the scissors so that you could beat me and take them, once that happened everyone stationed at the exit would scramble to find you, that might have given you a chance to escape but I think Janna saw through that plan and insisted on accompanying me to protect the scissors, then all of this happened.” Sabrina said. 

“I’m not untying you” Jackie answered still in a chill tone. 

“No, nononono, I didn’t ask you to do that.” Sabrina answered in a panic. 

“And talking about tying up.” Jackie stood up and cut a thick strand of ‘hair’ from the tree with Marco’s scissors and tied up Janna’s ankles and wrists, Janna barely moved as this was happening she just merrily kept snoring. 

“How long till she wakes up?” Jackie said, dusting her hands. 

“Probably a few hours and-.” A huge grumble was heard, it was Janna’s stomach “she is going to be pretty hungry when she wakes up.” 

“Ok, the horse just stood up and went out to find something to eat, think we could eat the grass of this place?” Jackie asked Marco with a worried voice, her tone finally showing some sort of doubt. 

“You said that the locals were pretty violent, did they look like cousin It from the Addams family?” Marco asked. 

“The, what now?” Jackie and Sabrina answered at the same time with confusion and a lifted eyebrow, Marco gave a sigh. 

“Do they look like giant walking hairballs?” Marco changed the question. 

“Oh! Totally.” Jackie said hitting her fist on her open palm. 

“Then I know where we are.” Marco tried to stand up but as he put his weight on his hand he felt a sharp pain on his arm, inspecting his arms he finally noticed that he was bandaged, with what looked like his hoodie’s sleeves. 

“I hope it’s ok, I didn’t have anything to bandage you on hand, it was a pretty nasty hit.” Jackie said worriedly. 

“It’s ok, don’t worry, but I need my arms, I need to fight for us to do anything in this place.” 

“I hope that you mean ‘ _ I can’t let you fight alone, Jackie’  _ and not ‘ _ Jackie, I can’t let you fight’.”  _ Jackie smiled calmly to Marco and he responded with an insincere smile. 

“Noooooooo?”

“Then, I’m fighting, good to know.” 

“Wait, Jackie, I’m the only one that knows how this dimension works, you won’t know what to do out there and you can’t leave me alone here like this with these two.” He pointed at the shaking Sabrina and the unmoving Janna. 

“They could do some serious damage.” Marco continued for emphasis but Jackie gave him an incredulous look, as if to punctuate this, the black unicorn returned porting a regal poise, it moved it’s gaze towards Marco and Jackie the latter of which readied herself for combat, then the unicorn laid down on its side and also started snoring. 

“Absolute killing machines.” Jackie said in the same tone she began with Marco’s scissors. 

“Ok, just, we need disguises.” Marco gave up, he instructed Jackie to cut more hair from the trees in order to make wigs that covered them almost completely. By the time they were finished the unicorn had already woken up and gladly carried both Janna and Sabrina still tied up but with the disguise that covered the whole horse along with its raiders with a thick purple wig. 

“So what’s the deal with this place? You said you know.” Jackie now a big ball of teal hair said. 

“I doubt you will believe me if I tell you, I’ll just take the first shot, it would be easier to understand that way.” The big ball of red hair that was Marco responded while displacing the hair from the trees only to notice that the “forest” was just a little group of overgrown trees, they were on top of a small hill with a town nearby. 

“Boy, this going to be a blast from the past.” Marco said, resigned to what was to come. 

***At the town***

There was a stand selling what looked like...fruit? 

“Always fresh! And the best prices! Come here! Come all!” The stand owner screamed at whoever was near, the small group approached the little shop. 

“Ok, Jackie, just observe...I think this will explain better than anything I could say.” Taking a calming breath and approaching the salesman. 

“Hiya there sir! I don’t think I’ve seen you here before, Oh! Sorry, ma’am didn’t notice you there! Lovely family, sir! On a trip?” The salesman boisterously continued. 

“Yes! A bit of an improvised one sir, we are out of food and the poor little one is starving.” Marco pointed at the concealed unicorn, thankfully Janna’s stomach grumbled to help with the story. 

“Wow, that’s a grumble right there! And lucky for you I know what a growing girl needs!” The owner of the stand filled a bag with various foodstuffs from his inventory. 

“That’s a nice growing girl there ma’am! Heck, in a few years she might even take over housing duties!” The salesman gave Jackie a wink. 

“Yeah, can’t make a mother prouder.” Jackie awkwardly said while petting the unicorn with a nervous laugh. 

“So how much?” Marco said, grabbing the bag. 

“Well it’s usually 7 but considering I want to keep the new clients, What do you say I leave it at 5?” The furball said with a wink. 

“You are too kind.” Marco gave the bag to Jackie and whispered, “Just let it happen, it’s the norm here I’ll explain later.” 

Marco turned back to the stand owner who jumped off his post to approach Marco “Such a good relationship with the missus, any tip you have?” The salesman said while cracking his knuckles and started beating the red hairball.

“Not-Ouch-really-ouch-I’m-ouch-just-ouch-lucky-ouch” Marco took 5 punches, said thanks, and turned back, he noticed Jackie’s wide eyes. 

_ “Lucky? VERY, smart?...PFTTTTT”  _ Greedy Heart chimed in.

***Back at the tree hiding spot***

“A...punching...economic system?” Jackie repeated slowly as if that would help her understand better. 

“A BATTLE economic system.” Marco corrected “Instead of money, here, the exchange is based on receiving punches and socially-AHHHH!!!” Marco was currently sitting and holding the tied up Janna like a baby, she had finally woke up but she still was weak, the bags under her eyes hadn’t disappeared... Also, she was very hungry and cranky and expressed that little discomfort by biting Marco on the shoulder. 

“If you don’t put another piece of food into my food hole, I swear I’m gonna make your throat my next me--mmhmm.” Marco shoved another piece of what turned out to be small still living hairy bugs into Janna’s mouth as she was threatening him. 

“Shouldn't we be taking the hair off of those things or at least cooking them.” Jackie said while inspecting another of the same bugs before putting it in her mouth, as she was chewing it her grimace turned into a smile. 

“Though I have to admit, pretty tasty, weird how the hair just melts in your mouth.” She said as she popped another one in her mouth. 

“Tastes like steak rolled in cotton candy.” Janna said dispassionately as she ate her fifth bug. 

“Still hungry?” Marco told Janna with a warm voice, Janna blushed a little. 

“Two more of those, let me take a nap in this position, and  **maybe** I’ll wake up in a better mood this time.” Janna deadpanned her blush disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. 

“You sure? The guy gave us other things to eat, don’t you wanna try something else?” Marco said, jiggling the bag in front of her. 

“I want a full stomach and a nap.” Marco gave her a small laugh. 

“Ok, ok, here you go.” Marco gave her the last two bugs at the same time and Janna opened wide and chewed both with a sonorous ‘Crunch’, the second she swallowed Janna dedicated herself to snuggle with Marco, soon soft snoring could be heard. 

“You trust her too much.” Jackie and Sabrina said in unison. 

“I already told you Jackie, no matter how, no matter what, she has always been on my side.” Marco said, stroking Janna’s hair lightly. 

“Marco, she joined Mina and the looneys, and contrary to her.” Jackie pointed at Sabrina who was now eating, using her robe as a plate “She doesn’t seem to have an excuse.” Sabrina swallowed. 

“She is also the creepiest member I met there, those guys are people who are either angry and bitter because the cleaving of the worlds or people like me, people that...well, were safer with them...no offence.” Sabrina said to Jackie. 

“None taken.” Jackie said while chewing three small...dough balls? 

“But she seemed to enjoy being there, she kept experimenting making potions from books Mina stole and there were rumors that she used civilians as guinea pigs and if she didn’t get those she would even use other members, heck I’m supposedly her apprentice and all I’ve done has been, be on the receiving end of some of her spells, hear her giggle at spell books and have permission to rummage on her stuff.” Sabrina told all this as a horror story. 

“Well, she is creepy, very much so.” Marco answered with a calm smile. 

“You are just not going to budge are you?” Sabrina said disheartened. 

“Nope, and it’s getting late, we should all sleep now.”

They did just that, the unicorn slept standing up this time while Sabrina and Janna were put on the floor next to each other, Marco and Jackie took turns to sleep and watch over the magicians despite Marco’s protest that it was unnecessary. 

Jackie was serious about her duty, she kept a close watch on the two sleeping girls, that’s why she jumped in surprise when she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” It was from Marco. 

“We are in a serious situation right now dude.” Jackie said, recovering her breath, she was quite shaken, Marco seemingly found it funny. 

“Pfft, sorry, it’s just that, you are so different from what I remember, I remember a girl who was too relaxed and took everything in stride, you still take everything in stride but you know when to take things seriously, but the biggest one I have to say, you just put a living being on your mouth and chewed a far cry from the girl that stole a lobster from a restaurant to throw it back to the sea.” 

_ “Did you just bring up the fact that she takes all the beatings life gives her with a smile and the day you two broke up on the same sentence? Are...are you actually retarded?”  _ Greedy Heart was stunned. 

“Well, I’m actually impressed with you Marco.” Jackie said a bit saddened. 

“.....” Marco kept his mouth shut, but his constant staring and nervous body language made Jackie scowl. 

“Spit. It. Out.” Jackie said threateningly. 

“Why?” Marco did as instructed, Jackie sighed. 

“Because it feels like the cleaving didn’t affect you, I mean look at me, I don’t skate anymore, I became a cop something that never even crossed my mind and I already told you but I’ve lived alone for about four years now but you, you are still the same as when you met Star, did nothing really happened to you? No family over in Mexico that you haven’t seen in a while? No place or hobby that you had to give up to learn to live in a new world? Nothing?” Jackie let a sigh of frustration and just plopped into the ground, Marco followed her albeit more gently. 

“No, I...I already had left everything behind for Mewni, it actually didn’t affect me.” Marco said, filled with guilt, he had been hearing how stuff had changed because of the cleaving since he went on this vacation...it really just hadn’t registered to him yet.

_ “Finally accepting guilt boy?” _ Greedy Heart whispered. 

“Hope you don’t mind me saying how jealous I’m of that.” Jackie said morosely. 

“No, I’m very sorry about that, I...really should be more affected about this.” Marco felt as if he just had an epiphany. 

“Don’t be, it’s just that it hasn’t been as easy on the rest of us.” Jackie seemed a bit better. 

“What happened to your parents?” Marco asked softly. 

“Ey, that’s some progress on communication Diaz, Happy for you.” Jackie now had a smile on her face but it faded away quickly. 

“They went to France, but they were there when the cleaving happened, the sky and sea got filled with strange monsters and it’s been taking people a while to find a way to move from one continent to another safely, their flight was the day after the cleaving, I’m glad about that though, about two-thirds of all planes and ships on circulation that day went missing, Most of them have been found...a few of the people in those were still alive if their flight had been a day before I might have never seen them again.” Jackie started to tear up, Marco hugged her for comfort. 

“I talk with them, don't worry about that, thankfully cell phones still work, we have obligatory facetime at least once a week but it’s just not the same.” She hugged closer to Marco, both stayed in that position for a while until Jackie calmed down. 

“J'ai presque oublié comment cela se sentait.” Jackie said as if she was giving a sigh of relief. 

“Ok, confession time dude, how do you know this place?” Jackie with red puffy eyes said with a little smile. 

“Oh...remember the girl I was calling in my sleep?” Marco said embarrassed. 

“Oh, your fuck buddy? Kelly was it?” Jackie scrambled for an answer. 

“...Yeah her, she is from this dimension, I visited quite often to meet her...back when we were, you know, kind of a thing.” Marco got red as a tomato. 

“Hah! So a casual partner from another species, aren’t you a regular Captain Kirk, did it get wild with this whole  **Fighting as a way of life** thing?” Jackie said with a giggle. 

“She was very adapted to other cultures actually, I never even knew about the fighting as an exchange coin here until I came to visit her for the first time...her dad gave me the primer” Marco gave Jackie the story. 

“No way! Her dad welcomed you here with a tackle and a throw...pfft how did he react after you broke up with her?” Jackie finally seemed like she had composed herself fully, Marco actually wanted to talk about the attack on the castle that would happen the day after tomorrow, but now was not the time to talk about that, now it was the time to calm the nerves to fight stronger then, he and Jackie continued talking well into the night. 

***The next morning***

“Are you two ready to wake up?” Marco was startled awake by a mocking voice but was more startled when a groggy Jackie looked at him in the eye, both in each other's arms, and then they separated as if they were electrified. 

“Great of you two to join us.” Both Jackie and Marco looked completely disheveled and they were both desperately trying to straighten themselves up, when they finally looked up Janna was still tied up and looking at them with a grin while Sabrina was just blushing and evading the gaze of them both. 

“Ok, sleeping beauty, you ready to get us back home?” Jackie tried to seem as big as possible, Janna didn’t buy it. 

“Are you gonna be the good cop? ‘Cause I’m a bad girlllll~.” Janna said in a slow sultry voice to Marco. 

“Janna! Please!” Marco screamed embarrassed. 

“Ok, ok, I’ll cooperate.” Jackie scowled at this. 

“What? You think I don’t want to go back?” Janna said still with a smirk plastered on her face. 

“I have my reservations.” Jackie crossed her arms. 

“Ok then, Sab how are we going back?” Janna turned to her ward. 

“What?” Sabrina jumped at the suggestion. 

“Well they don’t trust me and they trust you, if you do it there will be no reservations.” Janna said matter of fact. 

“Hmmm well...this is a long shot but...does anybody know if there is a library over here or something? One with magic books?” Sabrina got over her doubt quickly. 

“Ha! So you thought of that too! That’s my student for ya.” Janna said with a hint of pride. 

“What do you mean?” Jackie said, making a scowl. 

“The book I was using during our fight, it describes a spell that reverses the last spell you cast but the book is damaged. The description of that spell is incomplete.” Sabrina explained. 

“Yep, the only thing that it’s still there is that it will absolutely reverse the effect of any spell cast but it only works if the original caster uses it and it only works on the last spell he or she used, think of a one-use Ctrl + Z.” Janna explained. 

“We could try to blindly replicate the spell but we would only have one chance and then our only option would be to jump into a random dimension after random dimension and hope for the best.” Sabrina solemnly said. 

“If we don’t die before finding our own dimension that is.” Janna said with a chuckle. 

“I don’t think that would be necessary.” Marco finally chimed in, all the girls turned to look at him.

“Libraries are local treasures in this dimension, I’m sure we will find what we need.” Marco said standing up, everyone gave each other a knowing nod and disguised themselves to go to town. 

***At the town***

The team walked through town but today was a bit deserted. When they finally came across someone Marco turned to Jackie. 

“Remember what I said about this place?” Marco whispered. 

“Everything from the economy to social interactions revolves around fighting, punching someone in the mouth is the most polite thing you could do.” Jackie robotically repeated what she was told earlier. 

“Atta girl.” Marco said with confidence, Jackie approached the walking furball. 

“Good day, could you fight me for the location of the library?” The ball of hair got on fighting position as soon as he heard those words. 

“Thank you very much.” Jackie cheerly said before taking a fighting stance of her own. 

“Wow! She is pretty savage.” Sabrina said a bit shaken while screams of “Uncle! Uncle!” were heard. 

“Nice to know all that repressed aggression finally went somewhere.” Janna said with a macabre giggle, Jackie approached her companions with a certain skip on her step as she walked with a beautiful innocent smile on her face. 

“Let’s go to the library!” Jackie said excitedly. 

“Yes ma’am.” The other three said with their eyes wide in fear. 

***At the library***

The team entered solemnly and approached the front desk, a big ball of green hair was currently checking out some books for a client. 

“Thank you and come again!” She said, punching the client sending him flying out the front door when that was done the librarian turned around to start sorting some books. 

“Excuse me ma’am do you have any spellbooks?” Sabrina asked letting a bit of excitement escape her. 

“Oh! Interested in the lost arts, are ya girl?” The lady turned around with books tightly held on her arms but when she saw the party that had just arrived, her eyes went as wide as saucers and those books were promptly dropped to the floor, Marco was in the same state as the librarian. 

_ “AAAAAAAHAHAHAHA, please for the love of god, buy a lottery ticket when we get back, I need to know if you are incredibly lucky or just an unfortunate disgrace! AAAAAHAHAHA!”  _ Greedy Heart was wheezing at how hard he was laughing at the moment. 

Janna had a wicked smile on her face, she took her wig and made a ponytail revealing herself to the librarian and with a nice, polite tone, very contrary to what Janna usually is, she said. 

“Hi Kelly! How have you been?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I have no excuse for this delay, I was just a bit burned out to just coming back and double-checking but I think I have the pace down once again but no promises, sorry.


	8. Chapter 8

Marco was frozen solid, the only thing that reminded him time was still running was Greedy Heart’s incessant laughter, it couldn't be her could she? The mound of hair was taller and her voice was less squeaky, yes her hair was the exact shade of green he knew all too well, her voice was still recognisable and she was just as stunned as Marco was, but he could still hope.

“How?” The librarian finally spoke, she too was visibly shaken, her eyes wide as plates and with a shaky hand she picked up the books she had dropped before. 

“Eh, I know ways.” Janna smugly said as the small unicorn peeked out of her wig. 

“Why am I not surprised it was you?” Yep, that was Kelly sounding exasperated. 

And if that wasn’t enough she tied her hair on a low ponytail, there was no confusion here, the thin body, the chocolate skin, the still squeaky voice, the slight blush on her cheeks and those round black-rimmed glasses, Marco could not play dumb, in front of him was the girl that he had hurt such a long time ago. 

“Ok, what is going on? And who are you two?” The librarian's exasperation raised as she pointed at the teal and yellow mounds of hair. 

“Ok then, the cat is out of the bag it seems.” Jakie took off her teal wig and addressed the librarian directly. 

“I’m an officer. Jackie Lynn Thomas, I’m on official business, we need a book.” Jackie took Sabrina’s book and put it on the counter. 

“One like this or that provides information on this specific spell.” Jackie opened the book on the page for the reversing spell, the next page clearly torn. 

Kelly took the book on her hands and started examining it, Marco was still unable to move and on his stupor, Greedy Heart finally stopped laughing  _ “Hey kiddo! I’m still beating, I know you are still alive, you sure you don’t wanna say something?”.  _

Kelly slammed the book on the counter with a smile “Hey guys, I’m happy for you, I actually found something.” everyone’s eyes lit up except Marco who was still catatonic but Kelly’s warm smile turned into a scowl. 

“This book was stolen!” Kelly noticed she yelled after the fact and startled covered her mouth, still with a scowl on her face she took the book and opened the cover to show the library seal and the return date. 

“Even if I ignore the five years of no magic or portals this book is 4 years overdue, not only that it has torn pages, the cover is stained with I don’t know what and the pages that are still whole have been graffitied all over the illustrations!” Kelly whispered in a very angry voice and Janna laughed a bit at the exclamations of the graffiti. 

“And unless one of you is named ‘Adam Woolberg’ I will have to assume you didn’t check it out of this library.” Kelly put the book down, eyeing the group in a challenging manner. 

“I’m an officer if it was stolen then I’m returning it, can’t you let this one pass? This is an urgent matter against an overdue book!” Jackie retaliated with some of her own exasperation. 

“Don’t yell in the library! Second, you have no authority here! And third, I don’t know if that…” Kelly pointed at Marco, something about that made his heart feel as if someone was crushing it. 

“Guy!” She said with a hint of disgust, yep Marco’s heart was definitely feeling as if it was being crushed. 

“If he told you about it but in this dimension libraries are serious business, especially now, we lost about 30% of all the library books since the portals closed and now that I found one, not only it could have been stolen, it comes back in this state!” Kelly finished her rant by waggling the book on Jackie’s face.

“I don’t know when exactly it happened but that book is totally stolen goods.” Janna remarked with a tiny giggle. 

“What are you doing?” Sabrina panic whispered to Janna. 

“Cooperating.” Janna said with a shrug, Kelly’s eyes were bloodshot with the deepest scowl Marco has ever seen the girl made, and finally, she closed her eyes and took a relaxing deep breath to open her eyes slowly.

“Marco.” Kelly addressed her old flame directly this time. 

“Y-Yeyessss?” Marco managed to squeak out _“Much better than the deer caught in the headlights_ _act but there is room to improve.''_ Greedy Heart commented as a snobby critic. 

“You DO remember what happens now don’t you?” Kelly said on a threatening low whisper as she adjusted her glasses. 

Marco snapped to attention and managed to scream “Run!” at the three girls. 

Kelly meanwhile from under the counter took out a sword just a bit smaller than herself and just as thick as her mane of hair before jumping towards them swinging downwards at Janna who stumbled backward falling on her rear saving her from the sword that fell in between her legs. 

Taking the opportunity Jackie stepped on the sword but Kelly could still lift it with the extra weight making Jackie do a flip mid-air and fall full-on face down back on the floor, the action did give Janna enough time to escape the attacking librarian. 

Kelly raised her sword again to swing at the downed Jackie but Marco caught her arms midswing, Marco could remember her being strong but he could still overpower her, sadly that was not the case now she had toughened up in this last five years and the injuries on his arms were not helping matters much, in six seconds flat she had him kneeling on the ground barely able to keep her from swinging her sword. 

While distracted with Marco, Jackie was able to hit Kelly square on the face, forcing the librarian to stumble backward, she regained her footing and with a resolute look, she unmade her ponytail covering her body fully with her hair once again. 

“Jackie put on the padded wig again.” Marco took a step forward placing himself between the two women, Jackie nodded with an “On it.”, Kelly attacked with another wild swing towards Marco this time though the knight tackled the librarian to the ground using the chance. 

“Kelly, please! This is an emergency we need that bo-.” Marco kept his face close to hers which turned out to be a mistake as he was interrupted by a headbutt and as he was staggered he then got kicked off by the librarian warrior. 

As Marco was getting up, Kelly ran towards him and hit him full force on the top of the head with the pommel of her sword knocking him unconscious, as he hit the floor all he remembers seeing was Jackie clad with the padded suit again, grabbing Kelly from behind to perform a german suplex on her. 

**_“Are you sure you want to go to a Woollett party? They are pretty wild” Kelly said, a bit worried._ **

**_“Hey give me some credit, I already treated you to a fancy dinner over here, how much harder can it be to cover a party?” It took about 30 hits to pay for the restaurant even the waiters were impressed he could pay._ **

**_“Hehe, that one was quite impressive, the thing is that at a party it could be anything, it could be a pair of hits and that’s it or it could be 10 times worse.” She said smugly._ **

**_“Have you gone to many parties?” Marco swallowed a lump in his throat, Kelly gave him a giggle._ **

**_“A few, I’ve never gotten anything above what you got at the restaurant, but a cousin of mine is still in the hospital.” Kelly said with a shrug._ **

**_“Is he the son of your uncle that bought a yacht?” Marco asked._ **

**_“Yep...how did you know?” Kelly asked, a bit surprised._ **

**_“I had a feeling, anyway why are we using the same clothes as always?” Marco while clad in his red woollett wig and his usual attire underneath._ **

**_“Because this is a woollett party, silly.” she said pointing at a hole in the ground, peeking inside the hole Marco saw a bunch of bright lights moving wildly._ **

**_“Well breakup buddy, time to get ready.” Kelly said jumping headfirst into a puddle and rolling on it and after standing up a bunch of what looked like multicolored fireflies started to latch to Kelly._ **

**_“There you go guys, plenty of food here.” Kelly told the fireflies in a sweet tone, turning to Marco she gave what he can only describe as an “Are you ready?” smile._ **

**_“LET’S HIT IT!!!” Kelly joyfully screamed as she jumped into the hole and as if a drop of water had been thrown into a river Marco lost sight of her instantly, the Latino rushed to the puddle to attract the fireflies to catch up with his breakup buddy as soon as possible._ **

**_When Marco jumped into the hole he thought that maybe taking the fall was the first hit of the night, maybe the cover for entering the party but on a pleasant surprise the fireflies slowed his descent, sadly that was a short relief as the “party” was like entering a blender, all the people here were already locked in what looked like an all-out brawl that Marco was sucked into the second he was near it._ **

**_Marco was disoriented, confused and in quite a bit of pain, hits from left, right, above, below, front and back were getting to him in an alarming rate, he thought this was just a brawl with pretty lights, there wasn’t even music in this thing...until he noticed it, punching the fireflies created a sound, a different sound for each and the stampede was moving at a certain steady tempo he was just way behind._ **

**_When a hit from behind kicked him into his feet Marco started following the pack dutifully punching and kicking at the fireflies as he heard a step from the pack, he continued following the person in front of him running what he felt was a circle around the hole they were in, hits still came from everywhere though and after following for a bit he just blacked out._ **

**_When he opened his eyes his head was resting on Kelly’s lap, a beautiful moon in the sky that decorated the beautiful girl beside it._ **

**_“Did I do good?” Marco said with a bloody nose, a swollen cheek, a black eye and he didn’t even know where to begin on the rest of his body, in other words, he was in pain but Kelly turned to him and gave him a soft peck on the lips._ **

**_“You did amazing! Everyone agrees that they have never seen a first-timer get in the groove of things so quickly and you totally set the pace after that, everyone got bummed out when you got knocked out.” Kelly excitedly described Marco’s performance._ **

**_“Is it common that someone gets knocked out?” Marco said._ **

**_“Well, there are two ways to end up knocked out, getting trampled for missing the tempo or being so popular that everyone wants to hit you!” Kelly said with a giggle and a shrug._ **

**_“And which one was I?” Marco said with a proud smile, Kelly gave him a sultry smile._ **

**_“If I ever brought you back here, I would never be able to tear all the groupies off of you.” She closed her eyes and kissed Marco, but this time she wasn’t her usual playful self, this time it was just a long loving kiss._ **

**_This felt just right to Marco...or it did once? This time it felt a little different...What did he mean by this time?._ **

**_When the kiss broke Marco stared at his breakup buddy and her face morphed into Greedy Heart’s, Marco was about to scream in terror but the monster heart put a hand to cover his mouth and gave him a wicked smile._ **

**_“Knock her dead, kiddo.” Was all that Greedy Heart said._ **

Marco woke up screaming in a cold sweat and panting, he started to check his surroundings, and once again he was inside that group of trees. 

“Could you quit it with the nightmares already?” Marco said to his chest frustrated. 

_ “Nightmare? I thought you were having a ball down memory lane.”  _ Greedy Heart said with mock disappointment as the light showed on Marco’s chest.

“I was, then your ugly mug showed up!” Marco screamed.

“So that’s what's been happening? You’ve been having nightmares?” Jackie said from behind him. 

Turning to see her, Marco saw Jackie’s face in much the same state he remembered his own after the woollett party, bloodied, swollen, and bruised. 

“Your friend has one mean left hook by the way.” Jackie said with a small smile. 

“I’m sorry, she knocked me out early on, I left you alone protecting me while unconscious.” Marco was other than his arms and the small headache, untouched. 

“Nah, Janna and Sabrina went in and took you out of the library while I and Kelly were busy... so that’s what happens when your whole society runs by fighting? A mini terminator with nerdy glasses?” Jackie gave a giggle that was cut short by pain on her face. 

“You don’t know half of it, since libraries are such an important part in this society only the strongest get chosen as librarians, I’m not surprised she ended up as one.” Marco sounded nostalgic. 

“Great of you to be so proud of an old fuck buddy, hehhehehe.” Janna said entering their makeshift base, Sabrina just beside her, both were untied. 

“Oh, Jackie, finally decided to trust them?” Marco happily said. 

“I kind of have to, they saved you after all.” Jackie gave a shrug after she stood up and dusted herself off she said “Well then, time to go.” with that Janna stood up. 

“Wait, Jackie! Just let me…” Sabrina got close to Jackie’s face to inspect it, meanwhile, Janna was making an opening on the foliage revealing that it was night already. 

“Ok kids, remember to eat your dinner.” Janna said pointing at the bag of food on the floor “And don’t stay up past ten.” 

“The swelling has reduced a bit, but try not to get hit again.” Sabrina said in a professional voice. 

“Will do doc.” Jackie said following Janna. 

“Hey wait you two! Where are you going? And more importantly why?” Marco said to the two girls. 

“Just stuff.” Both said at the same time and let the hair of the trees drop closing the opening behind them. 

“What’s gotten into those two?” Marco asked Sabrina. 

“Beats me, seriously they didn’t tell me anything.” Sabrina said kneeling beside Marco, checking his arms, Marco finally noticed that his arms were now bandaged with actual bandages, not his hoodie sleeves as Sabrina cleaned and dressed his wounds.

“Where did those come from?” Marco said looking at the bandages. 

“Jackie’s bloody nose wasn’t caused by Kelly.” Sabrina said without missing a beat. 

“It’s nice seeing you on your element for once.” Marco said with a warm smile. 

“Well, it’s good to help the guy that gave me a chance for once.” Sabrina said, finishing with Marco’s treatment. 

“Kind of weird that the accident-prone girl is taking care of the safe kid though.” Sabrina said relaxing at last. 

_ “Heh, she doesn’t remember does she?”  _ Greedy Heart finally raising his voice despite not disappearing since Marco woke up. 

“Remember what?” Sabrina asked the neon purple light with a curious look, Marco put a palm firmly on his face and sighed. 

“Back, way back, remember that time when you kept playing pretend you were a nurse?” Marco said, a bit embarrassed. 

“Yeah...that was way back, I remember admiring my parents so much that I asked for a medical toy set for my fifth birthday.” Sabrina said sitting behind Marco, both of them using each other’s back as support. 

“Well one day, you helped me when I fell down, that’s when I noticed you, you were so into it, always with band-aids, always knowing what was dangerous and what was not, I couldn’t help but admire it, I kept trying to imitate you, to keep people safe, so much so that it turned into a habit.” Marco gave a little embarrassed giggle as he finished his story. 

_ “And that was the birth of the safe kid, then in grade school, you started hanging with Brittney, became a doormat and as accident-prone as could be.”  _ Greedy Heart said with a hearty laugh. 

“Gee! Thanks, and here I thought you liked me.” Sabrina said to the cursed organ in a good mood. 

_ “We both do, but I’m more of a tough-love kind of guy.”  _ Greddy Heart finished, this time everyone joined in the laughter. 

“So that was it then? A little girl playing nurse?” Sabrina said composing herself from the laughter. 

“Yes, more or less.” Marco said, his blush getting more intense as he felt Sabrina leaning back and putting her head on his shoulder. 

“That makes me glad, very glad.” Sabrina said in a soft voice. 

“Want to eat dinner?” Marco said leaning back himself, Sabrina giggled. 

“I’m up for it.” That’s all Sabrina said. 

***Meanwhile with Jackie and Janna***

“So what is it Jackie? Any reason for the sudden trust? I get Sab but me?” Janna said with a low chuckle. 

“You can’t use that little pony if you want to go back home, you helped us back at the library and...Well, I don’t think reliving a bit of our middle school years is gonna bother anyone.” Jackie said with a sly smile. 

“Ohhh...you mean?” Janna said with excitement. 

“I was told I have no authority here so, who cares?” Jackie said casually and Janna gave a high pitched squeal and hugged Jackie. 

“That’s my girl! Come on hurry!” Janna said running in direction to the library with Jackie following behind. 

The two arrived at the library minutes later and Janna kneeled on the front door. 

“Ok, Marcello, you know what to do.” the tiny unicorn came out of Janna’s hair and jumped into her open palm with a bobby pin on its snout. 

“Its name is Marcello?” Jackie said with a laugh. 

“If you dare say ‘too obvious’ I swear, I’m activating an alarm.” Janna said as a ‘Click’ sound came from the lock. 

Opening the door Jackie entered sneakily and climbed a bookshelf, she observed the place carefully and climbed to the second floor from there. 

“Is the magic section there?” Janna whispered from the first floor. 

“Is there a magic section?” Jackie responded as she helped Janna up. 

“Whew! Chloé could actually teach something useful huh?” Janna said when she was by Jackie’s side. 

“What do you mean by that?” Jackie whispered a bit annoyed. 

“I’m saying that if she were a meal, she would be plain baked potatoes.” Janna said dispassionately. 

“She was a great girlfriend.” Jackie said with her patience deteriorating. 

“She was horrendously apathetic, not even the cool kind of apathetic she was just bland, I’m actually very happy you two broke up.” Janna said examining a bookshelf. 

“Hey you even accompanied us on dates, you surely remember our good times, so quit being a jerk to her.” Jackie said, giving her back to Janna as she was examining another bookshelf herself. 

“Oh yeah! How could I possibly forget how she dispassionately checked her phone day in and day out… oh but she was holding your hand throughout, that’s good right?” Janna let out a small chuckle. 

“Were you really just saving this up? You had 3 years to tell me this on a better time, and you also just check your phone day in and day out.” They moved on to another aisle. 

“Yes, but was I supposed to be eating your carpet?” Once again they were back to back checking opposing bookshelves. 

“Quit it, Janna, you know what happened, so just shut up.” Janna let out a loud laugh but covered her mouth immediately. 

“Are we gonna talk about her “Adventurous spirit” again? Because it never stops being funny thinking Miss. Perpetually bored has the curiosity and wonder to try and discover a whole new world.” Janna said turning around. 

“And what about you? Miss. Stalker, finally giving up on your prey? Because I’ve been more intimate with Marco in one day than you’ve ever been, what happened? Did you get enough mileage off of that stupid ‘Chicken butt’ trick? Eaten your fill of carrion?” Jackie turned around with a smug smirk seeing eye to eye with Janna. 

“Oooh, ohohhooho, using the Marco card this early eh? Bitch, you know I would have ended up like you or the talking wig if I had taken a chance, just discarded, used and forgotten because the fucking idiot just seemed like a lost puppy after Princess airhead and to hell with everyone else!” Janna finally raised her voice, the lights suddenly turned on, snapping both girls to attention.

“You know, the talking wig is actually grateful that she was shown dating just wasn’t her scene.” There she was, the librarian Kelly leaning on the second-floor railing clutching her sword to her chest, as she unsheathed her sword she turned her gaze to Jackie. 

“So he did the same to you?” Kelly asked offhandedly. 

“That’s right, the first victim right here.” Jackie said humorless, Kelly then turned to Janna. 

“And you, I should have figured it out earlier but the most surprising thing about this is that you think you can judge someone for chasing after someone like a lost puppy.” Jackie violently snorted and had to kneel from the pain it caused her face while Kelly was actively stopping herself from laughing.

“Yeah, I walked right into that one.” Janna said with a completely neutral expression and when Kelly and Jackie finally composed themselves.

“...Now, where were we?” Kelly said still with a smile on her face. 

***Outside the library***

Janna and Jackie bursted out of the second-floor window both landing on their feet and hitting the ground running, Kelly following close behind. 

“Run! Run you stupid bitch! Run!” Jackie screamed desperately at Janna who was lagging behind. 

“Marcello, do your thing, god damn it!” The unicorn burst out of Janna’s beanie and hit the ground on its big form, the black stallion took Janna with its snout and put her on its back, Jackie took the opportunity and mounted the running unicorn, with both girls on its back Marcello accelerated leaving Kelly in the dust. 

***Tomorrow morning at the library***

The group was walking towards the library, once again all clad with their wigs.

“Sincerely, I had to take glass shards off of your hair, what were you two doing last night?” Sabrina said annoyed. 

“Reliving our middle school years.” Jackie deadpanned. 

“What?” Sabrina was confused. 

“Broke into an abandoned building to complain and smoke weed.” Janna deadpanned. 

“Wait really?” Marco was surprised. 

“Yep.” Jackie and Janna deadpanned at the same time. 

They entered the library and Kelly was already annoyed at the counter. 

“Really? You already lost yesterday and I stopped you from stealing last night, how many times do I have to slap you around for you to get the point?” She said getting in front of the counter. 

“So that’s what you two actually did last night!” Sabrina and Marco reprimanded at the same time. 

“Get in line already! I’m on a streak and I’m not breaking it!” Kelly said getting on a fighting stance. 

“Today it’s only me.” Marco took off his wig showing now his torn hoodie and the bandages on his arms. 

“Heh, really?” Kelly said eyeing the rest of the group with a smirk. 

“Can’t throw a punch to save my life.” Janna. 

“Got enough beatings thank you.” Jackie. 

“I’ll never get in your way ma’am.” Sabrina. 

“You heard them.” Marco readied himself for combat. 

“It’s your funeral, not mine.” Kelly said smugly. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” When Marco said this Kelly was already rushing him. 

Marco dodged and dodged and dodged every slash that came his way, Kelly was sure that it was because he was just protecting his arms until she noticed something strange, it sounded like...he was keeping pace with his foot. 

After Kelly noticed that she started following the tempo but far from allowing her to finally hit Marco she was now trapped in his pace, she was following his steps, and thanks to that it was just easier for him to just keep dodging, it felt...like a dance. 

No one was in the library at this hour and Marco took the chance to take the little “dance” all over the place, Marco stood on top on the counter with Kelly slashing at his feet, then jumped up the stairs as Kelly slashed at his legs and his hands when he put them on the railing to stabilize himself, they jumped off the second floor and landed on top of a bookshelf on the first floor. 

“You sure you shouldn’t help him?” Sabrina whispered to Jackie. 

“He said he had a plan.” Jackie responded and observing the fight she could see Kelly just getting more and more irritated. 

After landing on the first floor from the bookshelf Marco got on a different stance, Kelly was pissed enough to drop the pretense and just charged forward leading with her sword, Marco dodged the sword and outstretched his open palm right to Kelly's chin, after the hit the sword went flying off Kelly’s hands and she fell on the floor, Marco positioned himself on top of her grabbing her by the wrists and keeping his head at a safe distance from her. 

The girls were about to celebrate, until the heard sobs that were coming from Kelly. 

“You appear out of *hic* nowhere after five years, start dancing with me like on that party we *hic* went to and even *hic* take me down with a move we practiced together, just how cruel can you be?!” Kelly was now crying openly and thrashing violently, it took her about three minutes of screeching and struggling to tire herself out. 

“Ok, I get it, the spell, I know the spell you need, I’ll show you the book you cast the spell and then just please go away.” she said now shaky but calm and refused to see Marco eye to eye, Marco got off her and stayed sitting on his legs with his head down as Kelly stood up and disappeared into the library, Janna approached him with a whistle. 

“So, you just made her feel so sad that she surrendered, total dick move, but I’m not complaining.” Janna said her tone flat but Marco just got on a fetal position clutching his legs tightly.

“Don’t worry, I know you’re not proud of it either.” Janna said putting a hand on his shoulder when Kelly came back. 

“We go outside, none of you touch the book, cast the spell and you are all off my hair, understand?” Kelly said in an authoritative voice without raising it. 

“Understood.” All the girls said as they were going out Marco got up slowly and followed dragging his feet. 

Outside Kelly closed the library and put a sign of “Be back in 5 minutes”, they went on a little open field, and Kelly while keeping herself at a distance opened the book on the reversing spell page for Sabrina and Janna to read, both witches started casting the spell.

“Yaw thgir eht evrac ot, htap wen a ot em dnes, sekatsim ym esare.” both said with their eyes turning shiny gold. 

“So how does this work? Do we go back in time or something?” Jackie inquired, Kelly turned to her and answered. 

“No, nothing fancy like that, it just casts the exact same spell backward.” Kelly sounded exhausted but noticed the absolute horror on Jackie and Marco’s faces as Janna and Sabrina clapped. 

“What? What happ-.” Janna and Sabrina finished casting the spell and a blue portal that almost engulfed the little field appeared on the ground beneath them, including Kelly. 

“Oh! SHIIIIIIIIIIII~.” Was all Kelly could say as her and the other 4 people were swallowed by the blue portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was quick. 
> 
> sincerely thank you anyone that has read this far and I am working hard to finish this revisions (do tell me if you spot something wrong).


	9. Chapter 9

Star was anxious, she hadn’t heard from Marco in two days already, three if you count today, it was hard concentrating on the ball when your boyfriend/head of security wasn’t around, despite getting dressed for it right now by handmaidens. 

“Star? Are you sure you are ok? I mean queen Eclipsa and Moon are going to be there.” Starfan13 said with a worried voice. 

“Please, don’t encourage her, the last thing we need is her storming off to find Marco in the middle of the ball.” Moon said sternly. 

“Mom, come on, I’m way different from what I was five years ago.” Star said with a hand flourish causing the handmaidens to reprimand her. 

“Miss, we need to get you ready.” 

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” 

“I will admit, you have taken your responsibilities more seriously since the destruction of the magic and I’m proud of you, that’s why I’ve not said a thing about yours and Marco’s little outings.” Moon had a hint of smugness in her tone. 

“Oh! You knew about...those.” Star blushed. 

“Yes.” Moon said with a smirk and an arched eyebrow. 

“But I understand wanting that freedom, you have been more prudent about when to sneak out and you are more involved when you stay which is more and more frequently lately.” Moon said, her expression softening bit by bit after every word. 

“So I can go look for Marco?” Star said her excitement rising, Moon’s softening expression turned into a frown in half a second.

“No, I meant that you would acknowledge this is too important to just leave it behind.” Star made a frown. 

“Yeah I know...AHHHH! Why do we have to be in companies' good graces? To think I was annoyed with other royals but those guys *Shudder*.” Star made her displeasure known in the most theatrical way possible. 

“Miss, please we are almost done.” The other two handmaidens were losing their patience though. 

“I understand your... reservations, to our new...business minded allies but well, they are the ones that we need to make alliances with, the rest of Mewni’s old kingdoms weren’t as lucky as us to reestablish themselves as quickly as we did-.” Moon said giving her back to Star. 

“And the company's resources and good graces were a big part of why.” Star said at the same time as Moon, making her best impression of her mother. 

“Now young lady, that was just rude.” Moon said annoyed. 

“Mom, you and I both know they just wanted a new market before the government could get to us.” Star tried to argue. 

“I know they did all that for their bottom line but thanks to them we have security, peace and were able to integrate into this society quickly and with grace, or would you prefer what happened with pigeon kingdom and China?” Moon drew a line in the sand and with a gasp all the maidens present put a hand on their hearts, and lowered their gaze, including Star. 

“You didn’t need to go that far, Mom.” Star said with a scowl after a minute of silence. 

“And if you hadn’t given your head knight a special assignment he would be here already so take responsibility in this case and trust him to do his work while you do yours...and let’s hope his replacement does the same.” Moon gestured to a snoring man on the corner of the room, the man had purple skin, pink spiky hair adorned with a pair of horns, three eyes with marks under them and his mouth agape revealing his fangs and drooling a cascade. 

“Tom!” Star startled the man awake. 

“Ahh *snore* wha? *gasp*.” The man groggy and confused stood up “Are you done already?” Star turned to the handmaidens with an unimpressed look, the girls nodded with a similar look on their face. 

“Yes, all good to go.” Star said approaching her mother “as soon as this is done, I’m going to find Marco.” 

“I couldn’t ask for a better outcome.” Moon said with a small smile. 

“Wait, Marco is missing!? Holy shit I have to find him! Hold tight bro, Tom is coming to sa-.” Tom entered a panic and was close to jumping off the window but Moon grabbed his arm and with a stoic face she told Tom. 

“You will be Star’s escort on this ball and on her search for Sir. Diaz afterward, or you will answer to me, understand?” Tom swallowed hard, gave a nod and followed Star who was already on her way to the great hall. 

***At the ballroom***

Chantelle and Brittney were arriving at the scene. 

Chantelle was wearing a black one-piece dress and it was a tight one, the dress had long sleeves, covered her neck and the skirt stopped half thigh showing her bare legs, she had a pair of shiny black high heels and that was about it, she wore no jewelry, her makeup stopped at the basic foundation and her hair was her usual bowl cut. 

“And that’s all the information I have on the guests, we could have gathered more info by now or I don't know...some connections if someone hadn’t run late.” Chantelle looked at Brittney with an uninterested expression. 

“If you look at me and then yourself it will be obvious why I ran late.” Brittney had an elaborate gown, it was light purple and by light I mean translucent, her sensitive parts were covered by silver accents, her make up once again was perfect but it was way more colorful this time around with pink eye shadow and lipstick along with glitter, her eyes were adorned with long fake eyelashes and black mascara, her fingers, wrists, neck, and ears adorned with jewelry, her hair was made into an elaborate do and despite the skirt covering them, her shoes were a pair of stiletto platform shoes colored a purple that was a bit darker than her gown. 

“I’m curious, you said that you didn’t want to come yet it looks like you blew half the monthly budget on being the center of attention here.” Chantelle asked, expertly hiding her annoyance. 

“Of course I’m going to be the center of attention, even if I’m forced to come to the butterface get together for scraps, I’m at least gonna be the most impressive thing in it.” Brittney said with a scoff and a hit from her hips...until her eyes widen when she noticed what she just said. 

“Ugh! The fucking get together of the butterface, if it wasn’t for that cunt of a cop I would never have to stoop this low.” Brittney pinched the bridge of her nose sounding frustrated and disappointed. 

“You know Officer. Thomas’s little visits are less than 1% of all the losses we’ve had since the sweatshops in Asia were discovered, let’s just make the most of this, for better or worse we were Star’s classmates in high school and the Butterflys have already saved a few companies from bankruptcy, this might be our last chance to save your father’s company.” Chantelle said with a shrug. 

“OH! MY GOD!” Both women heard a high pitched squeal, turning to see an overly excited Star Butterfly on a sober blue gown and opera gloves, she was wearing a golden necklace and her blonde hair was being sustained on a bun with a pearl chain, behind her Tom the demon man dressed in a simple black tuxedo with a plain white shirt and red loose tie.

“I can’t believe it, I haven’t seen you two in years.” Star said hugging both women. 

“Well, our only interaction was you calling me flat assed.” Chantelle whispered. 

“What was that?” Star asked, her excitement not fading in the least. 

“We haven’t interact in such a long time Star.” Chantelle answered with a nervous tone and a forced smile. 

“Sooooo, what are you two doing here? Missed me?” Star said making a pose, it took all of Brittney’s will power not to scream ‘IN YOUR FUCKING DREAMS, BUTTERFACE’. 

“We are with the Wong company, you remember don’t you? Brittney Wong?” Chantelle said her facade still up while gesturing towards Brittney who had the most forced smile she could give while grinding her teeth to subdue her anger. 

“Wong the ones that had those sweatshops all over Asia?” Star was trying hard to remember what she had heard of the Wong company. 

“I assure you the executives have seen the error of their ways and are planning to do better in the future.” Chantelle gave the full sales pitch, topping it off with a nervous laugh to try to hide how she was breaking into a cold sweat.

“Of course, how could I not trust you girls? Hey I have an awesome idea, how about we become business partners?” Star said her excitement rising, while Chantelle’s eyes got a little glimmer and gave an actual genuine smile and Brittney tried not to roll her eyes.

“That would be our pleasure, Star.” Chantelle said, voice filled with relief and hope, while on her head she was screaming “Thank god, she is such an airhead!” Chantelle reached out to grab hold of Star’s hand to shake on the deal, but.

“Wait, are you sure about this Star? You haven’t seen them in a long while and you just said yourself their company is involved with some shady stuff.” Tom finally chimed in a bit worried. 

“This whole get together is to make connections and get points with the Butterflys, believe me, nobody is gonna like you showing such blatant favoritism.” Tom was never as much into the royal stuff as he should but he knew about this, as he got close to Star to get her away, Chantelle and Brittney gave each other a knowing nod. 

“Star, why don’t you show me around and introduce me to some people here?” Brittney said with mock excitement as she grabbed Star before Tom could and dragged her away, both loudly laughing, Star genuinely laughing and Brittany sounding more of a cry for help than a laugh, a bit confused at what he was seeing Tom stood still for a second, second that Chantelle used to approach and grab him by the tie. 

“Money? Stocks on the company? A bj on the bathroom? Name your price for you to shut your fucking mouth.” Chantelle said forcing Tom to hunch into eye level with her. 

“I have more than enough money, I want nothing to do with your company.” Tom’s expression slowly turned into a glare “*Sniff* And I would never hook up with someone that smells like you, not even for a quickie.” Tom janked himself loose from Chantelle’s grip and straightened his tie. 

“And if you excuse me, I have a princess to escort.” He said looking at Chantelle from over his shoulder, then he noticed her smug smile. 

“Really? Where is she?” Chantelle said with mock concern, Tom looked around at the sea of people and indeed couldn't spot Star anywhere, he turned to growl at Chantelle before darting off to the last direction he saw the princess going, Chantelle sarcastically waving at him goodbye all the while. 

***With Star and Brittney***

“And that was the boss of our buffet of lawyers.” Star said a bit annoyed. 

Brittney had been dragging Star from one place to another for two reasons, first to get her away from that meddlesome demon guy and second she thought that making her go on a tour of her friends would soften her up but the goof just seemed to sink lower and lower after each person they met. 

“Where is that stupid mime?” Star mumbled to herself. 

“What was that?” Brittney still caught a bit of it. 

“Nothing! Absolutely Nothing!” Star said defensively, ugh Brittney didn’t want to, she really didn’t want to, but she was sympathizing with butterface, taking her by the arm she guided her to a balcony.

“Ok, you don’t like these people.” Brittney stated. 

“Am I that obvious?” Star said worried. 

“Yes, why aren’t you trying with them?” Brittney asked not all that invested. 

“Ugh! Why should I? These guys either creep me out or is obvious that I’m just a means to an end to them, I will always have Marco with me anyways.” Star said leaning into the realing. 

Yep, Brittney was now convinced, butterface was acting exactly like her when she started in business  **“Why should I meet these creeps? They are getting the favor from me I’m the heir here.”, “I only need Chantelle, who would trust these weirdos?”** , the same selfish girl that roped an old friend into it because she couldn’t handle it alone...and her friend just ended up resenting her. 

“Butterfly, let’s say Diaz breaks up with you.” Brittney had to tell herself over and over that she was just doing this for the partnership to calm her upset stomach. 

“That would never happ-.” 

“Then he died on an assignment for the knights!” Brittney wasn’t going to tolerate evasion. 

“Well, I guess, I don’t know.” Star shrugged trying to sound cheery. 

“That’s the problem, you depend on him too much, you should have a plan, a network, a set of responsibilities and two or three more of each of those just in case, if you let someone handhold you all the way, all that’s gonna happen is that you’ll never know how to reach the place yourself, then you’ll lose whoever is dragging you from place to place and someone else is just going to pick you up and drag you again.” Brittney didn’t know why but she felt disgusted. 

“Like you and Chantelle tried to drag me some odd minutes ago?” Star said a bit confused. 

“Hey! You noticed!” Brittney said surprised and annoyed that she had figured out but still went on with it. 

“Yes, but I like you two more than the rest of the people here, I thought you two could be a good anchor.” Star said with a warm smile “But I guess you’re telling me not to go by that huh?”. 

“That’s right butterface, get in on the lead by running, if you are going to do something, do it seriously, anchors are for emergencies only… if ever actually.” Brittney said on an authoritative tone dropping all pretense by now. 

“You know mom just said she was proud of me, since I seemed to be more serious about my responsibilities...but you are right, Marco was always my pick me up...and it was a nice way to have him all day to myself.” Star said sounding nostalgic. 

“Ewgh! Butterface I don’t need to know your and Barfo’s daily rituals.” Brittany looked away in disgust. 

“Eh? But they are fun!” Star said, her good cheer back. 

“No! Now we go back and talk to the creeps, you need to get used to doing that without Barfo in tow!” Brittney said grabbing her arm. 

“Do I have to like the creeps though?” Star said in a whiny voice.

“Of course you fucking don’t! Here, we’ll go make some points with the dude that has the obvious, stupid wig, we can laugh at it once his back is turned, that’ll make it easier.” Brittney turned around to see Star with a big evil smile. 

“His wig IS funny!” Star said following Brittney now willingly. 

“Don’t get me wrong butterface, this is a dog eat dog kind of deal, if sinking you is gonna give me profit, I’m gonna sink you, do you understand?” Brittney continued with her authoritative voice. 

“Yes Ma’am.” Star enthusiastically answered. 

On the balcony next to the one the two woman just exited was a flabbergasted Tom and a very pleased Chantelle. 

“Guess who just got a partnership~?” Chantelle said on a sing-song voice to the demon whose anger was visibly rising. 

“And to think I almost gave a free bj, thanks for rejecting it sir, I’m sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it.” Chantelle said on a smug tone. 

“Listen here you littl-.” Tom almost flared up but it wasn’t his self-control that gave him pause. 

“Little what?” Chantelle said feeling victorious but to her surprise, Tom put a finger on her mouth silencing her, she would have protested until she noticed he was paying attention to something. 

“Can you hear it?” Tom said on a serious tone. 

“Hear what exactly?” Chantelle responded, Tom patted herself until he found a pair of binoculars and saw the horizon with the optic tools, he jolted in surprise. 

“Oh no.” He said softly dropping the binoculars and running back to the castle, curious Chantelle took the binoculars and the short woman got all the air knocked out of her at what the demon just saw. 

“What the hell is that?” Chantelle softly said in horror as hundreds of giant spiders being rode by what she could recall some sort of cultist or terrorist from tv approached the castle at break neck speed. 

***Back at the cave chamber***

The blue portal opened again covering the whole chamber floor, from it, five people were launched out towards the ceiling and the portal closed as quickly as it appeared as soon as the people were out of it.

Sabrina landed flat on her back with an “I’m ok.”, Janna landed on her rear, Jackie and Marco landed on their feet and Kelly landed on her back using her hair as a cushion while protectively holding the book tightly to her chest. 

“What was the idea behind making such a stupidly big portal!?” Kelly stood up in a rage turning to see Marco but neither he nor Jackie were paying attention, both were desperately patting the walls on the closed chamber. 

“And why are we on a closed cave?” Kelly pondered as her worry began to grow, Janna laughed a bit on the floor. 

“It’s because those two were uncovering a coup against the Butterflys when they ended up in your dimension.” Janna explained calmly. 

“Wait? You mean, Star is in danger!? Why didn’t you say that sooner!?” Kelly said mortified. 

“We tried but it was hard to talk with a face full of knuckle sandwich, so if you wanna help, be a dear and open this place, I’m tired but a levitato will do the trick” Janna said leaning back a bit using her hands as support. 

“Even if I wanted to cast a spell, I can’t, wolletts aren’t in tune with magic at all!” Kelly explained while joining Marco and Jackie patting down the walls. 

“Is that so?” Janna said slowly and gave a smile, Sabrina for her part wobbled her way to standing up right with a small smile. 

“Don’t worry guys, I’m on it.” Sabrina said but the sound of snapping fingers and Janna’s voice saying “Coward hippo.” was immediately followed by a ‘Thud’. 

Everyone turned around to see a sleeping Sabrina on the ground and Janna on her feet dusting herself off. 

“You know, I’ve been a really good girl this past few days, very cooperative, so you know, I think it’s time you cooperate with me.” Marcello burst out of her beanie into it’s fully grown form while Janna conjured purple flames that covered her arms completely.


	10. Chapter 10

Star and Brittney had already come back to the party at the thick of things, they were talking with the man with the silly wig and interestingly enough, he was loving Star’s cheery honesty. 

“Ahahahaha, It just. It looks like a doll's hair.” Star was laughing but the short man was guffawing, he would be bending if his enormous stomach wasn’t in the way, the man looked like a big grape with a wig.

“Thanks for the kind words AHAHAHAAHA My wife said it looked like a rat that drowned in bleach AHAHAHAHHHHAAAAAAAAaaa!” Everyone around was stunned, the man is a VIP, heck if it wasn’t for Eclipsa and Moon he would be THE VIP on this get together, the man was always dignified and stoic but here the airheaded princess was making him roll with laughter. 

“But your wife’s wig looks like a hairy octopus.” Star said wezing, the man’s eyes went as wide as plates for two seconds, the boisterous laugh went up a few notches and the man bent backwards so far he actually fell to the ground. 

“Holy! You are quite spontaneous aren’t you? Just don’t tell my wife I laughed at that!” he said as Star was helping him get on his feet, everyone else present was just speechless specially Brittney, she wasn’t kidding about drowning Star if it would benefit her, she brought her here to further herself not Star and here she was being left in the dust over a loud mouth with no filter. 

“I’ll take it to the tomb, sir.” Star said in a cheery voice, really pleased with the fact that her first actual contact with someone this important went well...usually Marco tells her how to behave in this kind of situation, he would have never allowed her to do something like this.

“EVERYONE!!! EVACUATE!!! TO THE SAFE ROOM!!! TO THE CATACOMBS!!! WHY DID MARCO BRIEFED ME ON WHAT TO DO IF A RAT GOT INTO THE ROYAL BATH DURING A BALL AND WEEKENDS BUT NOT WHAT TO DO IN A FUCKING COUP!?!?!?” Tom ran into the main hall screaming at the top of his lungs while wildly flailing his arms. 

“Wait a coup!?” Star said, surprised. 

“Oh dear! We haven’t had one of those in a few months.” Eclipsa said with a bit of surprise as she was surrounded by people with fancy dresses looking at the queen’s casual response unnerved. 

“Anyone who can’t defend themselves, follow me!” Moon said opening a secret door on a wall, with a bunch of people following. 

“You staying here, dear?” The man with the funny wig asked Star. 

“Yes sir, stay safe ok? I’ve never had such a good time with a business man!” Star said, directing a warm smile and a warmer hug to the older man. 

“Ohohoho! Don’t worry about that miss, and please give these people a chance, a moment when they don’t need to watch their mouths and think about profits would be an oasis on the desert to most of these people, but do try to hold your tongue a bit, no matter how much I ended up liking you and how much I admire what you just did, it doesn’t change the fact that you just won an incredibly risky wager, I know you’ll find a balance of the two.” The man kept a reassuring hand on Star’s shoulder, nodding to each other the man wobbled his way to the crowd that was already leaving, the secret door closing behind him. 

“So? Why didn’t you two went with them?” Standing besides Star were Brittney and Chantelle. 

“Eh, we’ll manage and besides I’m sure we’ll be safe here with you anyways.” Chantelle shrugged. 

“Girls, I was already going to favor you, there is no need to-.” Star said worried until she was interrupted. 

“Listen Butterface since highschool you were the source of all the weird shit in our lives, but you also kept us safe enough and sincerely... I need some stress relief.” Brittney said with a grimace. 

“I hope you two are sure about this.” Star said worriedly.

***With Mina***

Mina was riding on a giant spider standing behind a line of riders using the same kind of mount, the line was enormous and surrounded the castle at a long distance, every certain distance there was a spider carrying a part of the big ball of light from the cave, besides the ex-solarian knight was the new leader of the movement Jonathan. 

“Ok kiddys, it’s time to start the plan, ready...steady...FIRE!!!” Mina said as she finished the wall of spiders that had surrounded the castle took aim and shoot webs all over the outer wall creating a sort of ramp into the castle that the raiders used as an entrance leaving their mounts behind. 

“I sincerely think just letting the spiders go wild inside the castle would be easier.” Mina said with a chuckle to the humongous man beside her. 

“Mina I already told you, there is no need to go overboard, besides if we break the obedience spell by letting the spiders get away from the magic they might decide to come back, and I’m sure the little ones won’t be able to recast it.” Jonathan said on a neutral tone. 

“And if we get these magic batteries anywhere near the castle we would have to fight 3 women who have trained their whole life with magic with a bunch of amateurs, ugh! That’s why I was against using this MONSTERS to begin with! So much work for a glorified barricade and ladder!” Mina berated her mount. 

“Well most of that work was mine so I don’t see the problem.” Mina turned to the familiar voice. 

Janna was riding a dragoncycle with a collar that said “NACHOS '' on the name tag, behind her was a tied ball of green hair, she landed and let the ball of hair fall to the ground. 

“Captain Ordonia, good to see you back, I thought you wouldn’t be able to join us after using that spell.” Jonathan with a big smile on his face. 

“Thanks sir, it was hard work but...” Janna kicked the ball of hair and the leader of the knights Marco Diaz, Officer. Jackie Lynn Thomas and Sabrina Backintosh her pupil bursted out of it, all of them tied up “I got a nice souvenir out of it.” 

“Huh, it’s a pleasure to meet you again Sir. Diaz.” Jonathan said with a warm tone. 

“Wowie! The leader of the knights, a cowboy cop, a traitor and a monster! We got such a nice variety for the cells and so soon too! I shouldn't have doubted you, you creepy magic woman!” Mina screamed with a big laugh. 

“Ma’am what do you mean by traitor? I haven-.” Sabrina panicked but was silenced. 

“You are the lousiest actress I’ve ever seen kiddo! Do you take me for some dum-dum!” Mina jumped off her mount to see Sabrina eye to eye, Sabrina froze in fear at the crazy ex-knight’s gaze. 

“That’s what I thought.” Mina said with spite, turning back to her spider to take her sword from her mount without riding it again. 

“Sir, I would like to join the front lines.” Mina stood firm with a salute. 

“You may.” Jonathan said with a courteous nod, Mina approached Marco and grabbed him by the hair so they would be at eye level. 

“You hear that kiddo?! I’m gonna get you a shiny new cell in your beloved castle no less! You should be grateful!” Mina said, her eyes crossed, she let go of Marco letting him fall to the floor as she charged into the castle screaming at the top of her lungs. 

“Hahaha, such energy.” Jonathan said with a soft laugh, turning to Janna he arched an eyebrow “You gonna take care of them?” He said pointing to the four people tied up on the ground. 

“Yes sir, someone has to put them in their cell after all.” Janna said, starting to put the people in question on top of the dragoncycle. 

“It’s nice to see nothing happened to Sir. Diaz, he seems like such a fine young man don’t you think?” Jonathan asked Janna who was already advancing towards the castle with the packed dragoncycle in tow, this question gave her pause. 

“Yeah, kinda.” Janna responded without turning around. 

***Back inside the castle***

The great hall had already been breached by the assailants, the terrorists were all armed with swords as were the guards that they were fighting, on the clash was the princess of the castle Star Butterfly clad still with her party gown and a heavy helmet. 

Star was fighting armed with a one headed axe against five people who were surrounding her, she hit one with the butt of the axe but the other two flanked her, Star was able to dodge one but the other sword was coming directly at her. 

The sword was directly above the space between her eyes but it suddenly stopped, turning to see what happened, she saw Chantelle grabbing the attacker by the inside of his elbow, propped his pit on her other arm, turning around so she was in front of him she gave a little squat that threw him over her shoulder hard into the floor. 

“Wow! I didn’t know you could do that! Are you a super spy or something!? Keeping it a secret from Brittney!?” Star said excitedly as she was grabbing the third assailant by the robe to beat him over the head while Chantelle grabbed the fourth one by the robe throwing him into the ground and applying a choke hold. 

“You give me too much credit, princess, it’s just a bit of judo.” Chantelle said as she continued to choke. 

“You are at least some sort of bodyguard and secretary hybrid or something aren’t you?” Star’s excitement didn’t diminish in the least as she headbutted the fifth attacker. 

“Bodyguard!? Pffft, you talk as if Brittney needed any.” Chantelle finally let go of the cult member that had passed out from the lack of oxygen. 

“Talking about Brittney, where is she?” Star said blocking a new attack with her axe. 

“I’m sure she is trying to not mess up her outfit but I don’t think that will las-.” Chatelle started until a shrill sound cut her off.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS DRESS COSTS YOU USELESS PLEBS!?” a cloaked figure went flying past Star and Chantelle, a very pissed Brittney stood on the opposite direction, two unconscious figures being dragged by her, Brittney’s eyes were bloodshot, her make up completely ruined by the sweat running down her face making the furious red tint of it stand out more, her hair half way undone that made her look as if she had a freeze frame of a fireworks show on her head and most importantly the skirt of her gown was cut on several places and the rest was breaking due to excessive movement. 

Brittney dropped both unconscious attackers to the floor and kicked off her stiletto platform shoes, she then promptly bent her knees, put her right hand on jaw level and her left one on eye level, finally she wiped her hair letting it completely loose and letting it fall to her back. 

“Who else wants some?” She said with a hiss as she relaxed her neck and kept her stance in front of two other cloaked terrorists. 

One of them tried to charge at Brittney alone but the businesswoman took a step forward and kicked the attacker on the side of the knee with a sonorous ‘crack’ the man dropped to the floor, the second one tried to attack her as she drew back her leg but she caught him giving him a ringed left straight to the face, staggering back the man raised his head only to be hit on the same spot by Brittney’s right elbow. 

“Wow! When and how did she learn that!?” Star was starstruck. 

“Hehe, the best money can buy and I guess you didn’t notice but a lot of the students of Echo Creek Academy started on self defence classes after...well, you enrolled in it.” Chantelle gave the princess a bashful look. 

“Ohh...I’msosorry.” Star said all in one go in embarrassment. 

“Well if you didn’t notice.” Chantelle and Star dodged another flying cult member “It worked out fine.”

“AAAWWWW! Look at the two cuties having a heart to heart! Makes me want to barf!” A voice sounded behind, turning around Star saw a pair of familiar purple ponytails, Star’s expression turned into a scowl. 

“Well, it looks like I’m gonna have a chance to kick a nutty dumbass.” Star held her axe high and Mina held her sword in a similar manner with her eyes crossed. 

Chantelle without saying a word rushed Mina successfully reaching her before Star and grabbing her dress to sweep at her legs, but Mina took a step back and countered with her own sweep to Chantelle’s lone support point. 

Chantelle fell to the ground with Mina’s heavy sword pointing straight to her chest but before Mina could bring the sword down Star had already rushed the crazed knight herself. 

“Get away from her!” Star screamed as she attacked relentlessly with her axe, Mina blocking every single hit, finally being able to cut the head off of Star’s axe but from Mina’s unprotected flank Brittney’s ringed fist came colliding with her jaw. 

As she was reeling back Mina let go of her sword and grabbed onto Brittney’s arm, pulling the heiress to the ground with her with Mina landing on top of Brittney. 

“There we go rich kid!” Mina threw herself into the back of Brittney’s head with her elbow knocking her out, while Mina was distracted Star kicked her head, forcing her on her feet and knocking her helmet off. 

Mina on a rage got a hit in Star’s face knocking off her helmet then grabbed hold of the princess’ shoulders and headbutted her, Star for her part grabbed Mina’s shoulders and gave a headbutt of her own, both continued headbutting each other but after the fourth one Star started to slow down and Mina kept the pace until the princess didn’t retaliate and loosened her grip on crazed knight’s shoulders. 

Letting go of Star’s shoulders made the princess drop limp into the floor, her and Mina’s foreheads bloodied, The ex-knight stood there panting a bit to regain some strength, her forehead oozing blood and her cheek now getting swollen and turning purple from when Brittany hit her. 

While Mina was distracted Chantelle kicked her on the back of the knees and pulled her backwards by the collar throwing her to the ground, as Mina hit the floor she shot her legs into the air and latched them onto Chantelle’s neck, twisting her body Mina drove the shorter woman to the ground and kept choking her with her legs until Chantelle passed out. 

* **On the dungeon***

Star, Chantelle and Brittney woke up chained to the wall on a cell. 

“Finally up ladies?” the trio heard from outside the cell, there she was, Mina with a victorious grin on her bloodied and swollen face, Brittney for her part just got mad. 

“YEAH! READY FOR ROUND TWO YOU STUPID NUTJOB! COME AT ME BITCH! NO WEAPONS! MANO A MANO!” Brittney screamed at the top of her lungs, thrashing violently and ripping her dress further. 

“Ahahaha! Poking at the beaten enemies, didn’t our leader told you not to do that?” came a new voice with a mocking tone, appearing into the trio’s field of vision was Janna Ordonia with a dragoncycle in tow and more importantly, the dragon was carrying a group of tied up people. 

“Janna? Why do you have Nachos? And *Gasp* Oh my god! Marco!” Star said surprised as Janna opened the cell and started to chain the little group to the wall besides the trio, with every person Star’s surprise grew. 

“Sabrina? Jackie?! KELLY?! WHAT IS GOING ON JANNA?!” Star screamed while Janna was finishing up. 

“I’m with the guys with the cloak and I captured these four...I think that about covers it.” Janna shrugged and turned to leave. 

“YOU TREACHEROUS FUCKING CUNT! I KNEW YOU NEVER WERE NOTHING BUT BAD NEWS!” Brittney’s anger just got worse and worse. 

“Woah! I can almost see your nips there Wong, settle down.” Janna turned with a sly smile at the entrance of the cell. 

“Well, well, it appears neither of you can resist the chance to gloat.” Jonathan said arriving at the scene carrying a badly beaten Tom over his shoulder. 

“Sorry boss, I just kind of had to.” Janna gave a chuckle and moved a side so that Jonathan could enter the spacious cell and leave one last tenant in it. 

“I wanted to tell our guests of honor the status of the siege but seeing as you two just can’t help it.” Jonathan said leaving Tom chained to the wall, a weary glare on the demon’s face, glare that the mountain of a man ignored to turn to Mina who has been standing on attention since he entered the room, noticing this Mina’s eyes lit up. 

“Are you sure sir?” Mina said as if she were a child that was allowed to open their birthday presents early. 

“Give it a go, when are you going to have an opportunity like this again?” Jonathan said with a shrug leaving the cell, Mina gave a squeal of delight and entered the cell. 

“Guess what Monster smocheers? The castle is OURS!!! Eclipsa didn’t put up much of a fight! Moon is being intercepted as we speak! Knights? Completely suppressed! Reinforcements? Can’t get past our wall of spiders!” Mina was twirling like a mad woman as she screamed every word with absolute delight. 

“Cool, so the spiders are useful now?” Janna said with a small voice and an annoyed tone, Mina ignored her to squat in front of Star and get into her personal space.

“And that’s not all, I don’t know if you noticed princesses but there is no natural way to train those spiders, is there? Can you guess how we did it?” Mina said, lowering her tone and her pupils turning into pins. 

“Magic?… you are here for the queen’s magic book?” Star said slowly and terrified. 

“Ohhh, am I looking forward to getting my hands on that book.” Janna said, stretching a bit. 

“And not only for that book, to burn this entire monster smooching castle to the ground! As per the orders of our leader we are not going to burn any of you, but I don’t know, having all of you rotting on a cell where I can see it has its charm!” Mina squealed in delight and twirled her way out of the cell, Jonathan looking at her in disapproval. 

“How do you find a way to make everything under the sun sound bad?” Jonathan sounded a bit exasperated. 

“Sorry sir.” Mina couldn’t stop her excitement even when her leader was reprimanding her. 

“Have a nice rest guys, I’ll be back once I find a way or twenty to constraint you on that big book of Star’s.” Janna said waving her hand as she and the other two left. 

“COME BACK HERE YOU CREEPY CUNT! I WILL PULL YOUR NAILS OUT AND THEN CHOKE YOU WITH THEM! I’M SURE YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THAT WAY TO GO! YOU’LL WISH I WAS JUST FUCKING SACKING YOU!” When Brittney shut up not even footsteps could be heard. 

“So, what plan Janna left you with?” Star said in a monotonous voice.

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT BUTTERFACE!?” Brittney’s anger was still at its peak but it turned into confusion when she heard Jackie and Star trying their damndest to contain their laughter, both Chantelle and Sabrina were on the same boat as the heiress to the Wongs. 

“Well Wong let me tell you a rule that I had to learn by force this past few days.” Jackie said with a smirk. 

“If Marco Diaz is on your side, then by default Janna Ordonia is too.” Jackie and Star said with a nice smile, as if on cue a single brick from the cell dropped and a woman with black and white mime makeup came out of the cavity, the woman was dressed with pink shorts that had pink suspenders that stopped just below her glutes also pink gloves and knee high boots, under she had a black and white striped long sleeve shirt and to top it off a pink beret over her purplish short hair that curled at the ends. 

“Just in time as always, this time more black and white and also no ruffled collar, it suits you.” Marco said gesturing the new arrival towards the zipper of his hoodie and making a ‘ziiiip’ noise, it was hard to distinguish if the mime was embarrassed about the complement or the insinuation but she got on her knees and unzipped his hoodie anyways, what she saw made her face lit up as she excitedly gave little claps. 

“This is our way out and a little something for the injured.” Marco said in a smug tone, under his hoodie were individual keys and pills that were taped into his shirt. 

* **Flash back***

**“I think it’s time you guys cooperate with me.” Janna said with her arms ablaze with purple flames.**

**“No we won’t.” Kelly said in defiance as she charged the witch.**

**Janna without missing a beat snapped her fingers causing vines to appear from the ceiling, the vines wrapped Kelly leaving her hanging upside down with her hair hanging, Janna snapped her fingers once again and that made the vines grow thorns about fifteen inches long, none of them touched Kelly.**

**“I didn’t let them tangle your hair on purpose, I know that thing is like an iron shield.” Janna said uninterested, another snap of her fingers and kelly was now face to face with her, Janna looked at her in the eyes, Kelly had a glare and a nasty bruise where Marco hit her not long ago.**

**Janna reached out and touched Kelly’s bruise with her fiery hands...healing the woollett.**

**“Ok, first heal injuries, then we make a plan and just to make sure, there is no way we are winning the initial assault so don’t even think about it.” The vines let Kelly go and Janna approached Jackie healing her injuries just as she did Kelly’s, both women were stunned silent about this whole thing but Marco didn’t even look impressed.**

**“Wait, what do you mean we can’t win?” Marco said, presenting his injured arms to Janna without hesitation.**

**“I mean, that Jonathan guy is no joke, that, plus the giant spiders, well there is no way we are winning that one, heck I thought Mina was just some crazy with stupid ideas but she is no push over either.” Janna said rubbing her hands on Marco’s arms.**

**“We need a plan, we need to get rid of those spiders and then we MAYBE could take on Jonathan and Mina, also let’s not forget about the rest of this little pack of assholes shall we?” Janna said, looking at Marco’s eyes with determination.**

**“Why Knock out Sabrina though?” Marco said breaking eye contact with Janna to look at the unconscious Sabrina on the floor.**

**“Don’t worry about that, she is the worst liar I’ve ever seen in my life, telling her anything would be the same as arriving on site with a sign that reads ‘Yeah, I’m hiding something’.” Janna said, sparing a look to her “apprentice”.**

**“Come on guys LOOK ALIVE! We have little time before the attack starts, Marco you know the ins and outs of the castle we NEED that, Kelly and Jackie, I want to believe you have made plans like this before and I know all the residents of this loony bin, we can plan something good by the time we need it.” Janna said on an authoritative voice.**

***At the cell***

“And that’s what happened.” Jackie finished the story. 

“So what’s the plan, brosky?” Said Tom with a smug smirk while massaging his wrists, the pills had healed any and all of their injuries, just leaving a bit of soreness. 

“Ohohoho! You are a central part of it my friendo.” Marco put a hand on Tom’s shoulder and gave the demon a confident smile. 

“Giant spiders hate fire, not to mention their flammable webs.” Marco said with confidence. 

“Ohhhhh, those poor defenceless babies.” Tom said with mock sympathy while lifting a fist lit a blaze. 

“Hey assholes, those cloaks owe me a few hits, a new fucking dress and all the fucking jewerly I had on me but I can’t go anywhere like this.” Brittney said as she covered her chest, her dress had already ripped enough to leave it compleately exposed. 

“Yes, miss, noted.” Chantelle said as she took off her dress to offer it to her boss, revealing a lycra crop top and a pair of lycra shorts underneath. 

“Hey! Why did you have that under your dress?” Brittney said taking the dress from her personal assistant and as soon as it was off her hands Chantelle took off her shoes. 

“I lost the sense of time at the gym and just took a sink shower to come here.” Chantelle said with a shrug. 

“And you were chewing me out for being late you bitch!” Brittney said changing clothes using her assistant as cover. 

“Yes, I was running late, you were late, there is a big difference between those.” Chantelle deadpanned. 

Star hugged Kelly as hard as she could. 

“I can’t believe it, How?” Star was very happy to see her old friend, not letting her out of her embrace. 

“Well...Stuff happened, I’m sure you’ll hear the details later.” Kelly said, a bit ashamed. 

“But no matter the situation, I’m glad I could see you again.” Kelly returned the hug. 

“Now we just need to be safe and then we’ll find a way to bring me back to my dimension.” 

“Of course, if it was done once I will do it twice, just give me some time besides we need to catch up anyways.” Both Star and Kelly tightened the hug. 

Jackie was shaking the hand of the mime girl with an enormous smile on her face.

“Bonjour, madame, c'est un plaisir de vous rencontrer, Marco m'a beaucoup parlé de vous, j'aime votre béret.” Jackie said to a bashful mime who looked away and made a dismissal gesture on one hand while she giggled, her blush visible even under the make up. 

“Star, there is only one step left to begin.” Marco approached Sabrina and lifted her cloak, everyone gasped at the sight as Marco procured a cellphone from underneath. 

“You planted a cellphone on me?” Sabrina said blushing madly and flailing her arms at the latino. 

“Ouch, ouch, it wasn’t me it was Janna I swear.” everyone face palmed. 

_ “Seriously? That’s not the point and you know it, dumbass.”  _ Marco kind of forgot that his heart could talk to him, after Sabrina settled down the leader of the knights finally approached his princess who finally let go of her friend. 

“Text Janna the whispering spell, then we are good to go.” Marco gave the phone to Star who texted the spell on 10 seconds flat. 

“Done.” Both her and Marco stared at each other's eyes and in a blink and you miss it movement they had already locked lips and were embracing each other tightly. 

Jackie gave a strained smile, Sabrina blushed and looked away, Kelly frowned and looked away, Chantelle gave a nod being more interested in this than most things today, the mime girl gave a dreamy sigh, Brittney rolled her eyes and Tom had a grin while giving two thumbs up. 

When the princess and knight separated they continued to stare at each other’s eyes still embracing one another. 

“Don’t try anything heroic.” Star said, still lost on her boyfriend’s eyes. 

“Don’t try anything foolish.” Marco responded in a similar state. 

“No promises.” Both said at the same time, finally letting go of each other they shared a fist bump, after which Marco opened his palm and revealed three small balls of light. 

“Janna was pretty generous today, one is for you, the other two are for Queen Moon and Queen Eclipsa, keep it in your pocket and...” Marco gave the balls to Star. 

“Instant magic!” Despite being the one that destroyed magic in the first place Star was visibly excited, she had to admit, she missed the feeling of using magic. 

With the magic on her hands Star rushed outside with everyone following behind...except Marco, as he stood alone he took a deep breath and from the hood of his hoodie a small unicorn peeked its head. 

“Ok Marcello, we can do this.” The unicorn gave an enthusiastic neigh that pumped Marco up. 

“YEAH! LET’S DO THIS!” And with that Marco followed. 

* **At the great hall***

“Everyone rejoice! We have taken the castle! We will destroy this symbol of your pain and misfortune! And show the world, WE STRIKE BACK TOWARDS WHAT THEY TELL US IS GOOD AND NECESSARY!” Jonathan stood in the center of the hall with Mina besides him as he screamed with a booming voice to a crowd of cheering cloaked figures. 

“UGH! Really!? You simply can’t accept change still!?” The voice of a lone woman demanded the attention of everyone present, turning to see on top of a candelabra standing tall and proud the princess of this castle Star Butterfly. 

“Well, I will have to just beat it into you.” Star said, her arms being enveloped by rainbows that shaped into fists. 

“So...Magic? *Sigh* I didn’t want to believe it.” Jonathan with a face filled with disappointment once again addressed the cloaked figures. 

“Friends! Our beloved captain Janna Ordonia has turned traitor! If you find her amongst us please treat her as your foe but don’t forget your time as friends!” Jonathan finished with an impressive jump that allowed him to grab the candelabra Star was standing on and pull it down with such strength that it broke the chains holding it making the candelabra crash into the floor. 

“You use magic too!?” Star managed to jump off the candelabra falling directly in front of the crowd. 

“No, your majesty, even if I could use magic, I would never employ it.” The man said from the other side of the crowd and took a fighting stance. At that sight the crowd opened a path for the two foes to fight each other. 

“Sucks for you then.” Star ran towards Jonathan ready to attack and as she threw her magic enhanced punch, the burly man met her knuckle with his own, sending Star flying across the room and shattering the rainbow aura around her fist. 

“What ARE you? Narwhal blast!” Star sent a blast of pink light that formed itself into a narwhal that was going directly towards Jonathan’s chest, but he took the animal by the tusk stopping it’s forward momentum completely and throwing it behind his shoulder, watching as the narwhal poofed out of existence after a certain distance. 

“I’m nothing more than a humble man, your majesty.” Jonathan said courteously, Star took a deep breath and the rainbow aura started to envelop her whole body, turning into a gigantic rainbow colored armor. 

The armor rushed towards the bearded leader and threw a punch that cracked the floor beneath it but couldn’t touch Jonathan, the man jumped in the air landing on the armor’s arm and ran up the curious looking armor striking a flying kick into Star’s armor helmet making the whole thing disappear and Star fell to the ground. 

“Surely magic can do better than this.” Jonathan said to the kneeling princess that...took a sniff. 

“Than a distraction? No worries it can do MILES better.” Star stood up with a smug smile and Jonathan took a sniff himself, it smelled like smoke and ashes. 

* **On the outer walls***

Janna was riding Nachos on top of the still line of giant spiders outside of the castle, the raiders had left them all behind in order to catch the celebration inside, checking her phone, she took a calming breath. 

“All right, let’s do this, ready flame boy?!” Janna asked a flying Tom. 

“Don’t lag behind voodoo girl!” Tom said as he started to light on fire the webs that the terrorist had used to enter the castle, Janna for her part started to ride low and approached a ball of light touching it lightly and closing her eyes. 

“Break the bond, tear the fabric, cleave the stone, stop the magic.” Janna chanted as a mantra and the ball of light started turning a dirty purple until the ball of light turned into a ball of mud that oozed into the ground. 

After being freed from the spell the spiders noticed the roaring fire in front of them and started fleeing, Tom having lit all the web a blaze started herding the fleeing group of spiders into the general direction of the mountain that had the mine these wild creatures used as a home, both Tom and Janna continued this process for every ball of light and group of spiders that ball controlled. 

* **In the great hall***

“AHAHAHAHAH! Good one your majesty! I have to admit, when using my head I’m not the best!” Jonathan said as he saw the flames from the outer wall rage and listening to the freed knights enter the hall with the familiar voice of Sir. Diaz screaming “CHARGE!!!”. 

“You are not great at staying focused either, RUBY CUPCAKE BLAST!” Star conjured a bright pink light that produced dozens of cupcake shaped rubies going directly at Jonathan’s back, that suddenly disappeared when the rubies were about to connect. 

“On that, your majesty, you’re wrong.” Jonathan said appearing dropping to the ground after jumping out of the rubies way, turning to see Star he got on a fighting stance. 

“Vine Valley!” Sabrina’s voice was heard as the floor of the hall was completely destroyed by an enormous amount of vines that wrapped everyone present. 

“Have some control, Sabrina!” Star screamed as she too was entrapped by the vines and struggling to get free, Jonathan and a few cloaked figures for their part broke the vines as if they were made of paper, Star broke into a nervous sweat and her pupils turned to pins at this sight. 

“I think I’m in danger.” The princes whispered in a low panicky voice. 

“Release!” Sabrina’s voice once again echoed in the hall and the vines started to loosen...but then strangled with more strength. 

“Sabrina!” Star was choking on her words, she was also being choked. 

“Ahhhh-uhhhhh-emmmmm.” Sabrina was at a loss of what to do, shutting her eyes hard she just screamed the first thing that came into her mind “Herbicide cloud!” a green gas enveloped the whole hall in the blink of an eye and the effects were just as fast, the vines shriveled and dried but on the other hand, now there was a thick smoke screen of noxious green gas on the whole place. 

“Dawn breeze.” a soft voice was barely heard over the coughs on the gas but the chant was successful as a purple wind blew all the gas away as fast as it set. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, dear.” Said a lady with dark green hair in a puffy purple dress, the queen of this castle, the queen of darkness Eclipsa Butterfly. 

“Took us a bit to arrive.” Said a woman in a light blue dress and an even lighter blue hair, Moon Butterfly. 

Sabrina who was hiding on a safe distance to the hall saw both women appear in the hall and ran towards them but tripped with a shriveled vine and dropped the two magic batteries she had with her. 

“Your majestys, those are the source of magic.” Sabrina screamed pointing at the two marbles of light, both queens gave a nod and approached them. 

“I don’t think so!” Screamed Mina as she clothes lined both royals from behind and ran all the way to grab the magic batteries. 

“And you!!! You were just so obvious!” Mina said with a frown on her face, she put both marbles on her pocket and unsheathed her sword but as she was focusing on Sabrina a punch hit Mina on her unbruised cheek. 

“WHERE DID YOU LEAVE MY RINGS YOU THIEF?!” Brittney said after Mina staggered backwards, Chantelle put her leg behind Mina’s and hit her on the chest making the crazed knight crash into the ground. 

“Remember me?” Chantelle smugly said as she kicked Mina’s sword away. 

“NO! Who are you?!” Mina said standing up with a jump and lunging towards Chantelle but Chantelle ducked under and Mina’s face went directly towards Brittney’s knee, finally knocking out the solarian knight. 

“Been a while since the last time we worked together, eh Sabrina?” Chantelle gave a small smile to the enchantress who was still on the ground. 

“I...I’v...I’ve missed you guys.” Sabrina said with a strained smile. 

“I know you didn’t, no need to force it.” Brittney dismissed Sabrina as she was standing up with an embarrassed blush on her face, then her face turned into surprise. 

“Star!?” Sabrina said as the princess came flying towards her, crashing into Sabrina and knocking her back into the ground. 

“Chantelle, Brittney, please the magic that Mina stole, take them to the queens, I beg of you!” Sabrina said desperately trying to get the unconscious princess off of her. 

Both women took the marbles and ran towards the queens, until Jonathan appeared in front of them, Brittney wasted no time and threw a punch as soon as she saw him but the burly man blocked the hit with his elbow, a ‘crack’ was heard and it was not Jonathan’s elbow. 

Brittney reeled back and Chantelle approached the leader of the terrorist running low but when he was at grabbing range Jonathan jumped backwards and kicked Chantelle on the chin, the short secretary’s now suddenly found herself asking “Why is the ceiling so close?”. 

Chantelle landed on top of Marco Diaz who was fighting a bunch of mooks at the time, Marco noticed on time to catch her but too late to be a smooth catch as he fell on his rear with the short woman on top of him. 

“Thanks Sir. Diaz.” Chantelle rubbed her chin. 

“Ummm, Ehhhh.” Marco was at a loss for words and as ashamed he was to admit it, it was because Chantelle smelled amazing. 

“Are you ok?” Chantelle asked with worry getting a bit closer and Marco tried to avoid her gaze. 

“It...it’s just... _ You smell sexy.” _ Marco was stupified and confused  **_“What the fuck does that even mean you stupid heart!”_ ** He thought in horror, Chantelle for her part offered him a sly smirk. 

“Good to know, your demon friend couldn’t appreciate a bit of athleticism.” Chantelle got up and dusted herself, her smirk not disappearing. 

“But not a great time to look for someone to cheat on your girlfriend with.” And with that Chantelle went back to the fray. 

Still on a daze the leader of the knights finally saw Jonathan fighting Kelly and Jackie at the same time and it didn’t look like the girls had the upper hand. 

Jackie was able to plant her elbow into Jonathan’s midriff but the man just shrugged it off and retaliated by hitting the cop by throwing both his fist down into her, making the cop pass out. 

Kelly charged forward and threw a punch but Jonathan caught her fist and fling her away, when the man looked down he saw Brittney on a fighting stance, her right fist very clearly purple. 

“That is not a state you should fight me in.” Jonathan said with concern in his voice as Chantelle was dragging Jackie to a safe place. 

“Consider it a favor.” Brittney said rudely and threateningly, she threw a punch with her left that Jonathan tried to deflect but it was a feint and using the chance she threw a low kick to the man’s legs, but Jonathan raised his opposite leg and stopped her foot with his sheen, putting his leg back on the floor Jonathan gave a chop to Brittney’s shoulder making her pass out. 

“Oh no.” Chantelle noticed she was the only one left facing the leader of the attackers, on the other side of the room Sabrina took the ball of light on Star’s pocket with an “I’m sorry your majesty.” and ran towards the scene once at an acceptable distance she got on her knees with her palms on the floor. 

“Quick, quick sand.” Sabrina chanted and a small hole of quick sand appeared under Jonathan and started to sink quick but the hole was small enough for him to put both his arms on solid ground in order to pull himself up. 

While all this was happening Marco saw Kelly flying and ran to catch her, this time the catch was smooth and could keep himself on his two feet after it, Kelly noticed what happened and saw Marco on the eyes with a glare. 

“I haven’t forgiven you, you know?” Kelly said with anger in her voice. 

“I-.” Marco started but Kelly put a finger over his lips, silencing the latino. 

“But ANYTHING sounds better than losing for a third time today.” Kelly’s face softened and removed her finger from Marco’s lips. 

“So…” Marco had an idea but didn’t want to say it out loud. 

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Kelly raised an eyebrow with a smirk, Marco returned the smirk. 

“I think I do.” Marco said with confidence. 

When Jonathan freed himself from the quicksand Sabrina had already started to drag Brittney away and running just as desperately as Chantelle dragging Jackie, desperation that grew when the bear of a man turned to see them. 

“Hey big guy!” Marco and Kelly called from Jonathan’s back, and when he turned he saw what looked like a weird centaur, the top half of Marco was protruding off of a mound of green hair with legs, both the leader of the knights and the hairball were on a fighting stance. 

“What a curious form.” Jonathan was rubbing his beard in genuine intrigue. 

“You don’t know half of it.” Marco and Kelly said in unison, Marco threw a right punch to Jonathan that he blocked but that left his side defenceless, chance that Kelly took, she arched her back and raised her leg to plant a hard kick to Jonathan’s side. 

With the movement Kelly did to kick Marco got further away from Jonathan and disappeared into Kelly’s hair as Jonathan bent a bit from the kick that he just received Marco appeared from a different part of Kelly’s hair and punched Jonathan in the chin.

Jonathan made a little distance between him and the two fighters but the two approached fast, Jonathan threw a punch directed at Kelly but Marco grabbed his arm and flipped both him and Kelly allowing her a good position to plant her knee on Jonathan’s jaw. 

Once again the man staggered but Marco held on tight to his arm, when Kelly touched the ground Marco now flipped Jonathan and threw him to the ground, Marco and Kelly took a bow thinking the battle was over but they heard a vociferous laugh. 

“What a beautiful style, it seems more that I’m trying to be a third wheel to a dancing couple… and I’m doing a very poor job at it, AHAHAHAHAAH!” Jonathan laughed on the floor as he stood; he kept eye contact to the two fighters with a toothy smile. 

“Boy is this fun!” He took his fighting stance again and Kelly lunged at him and Marco disappeared into the mound of hair. 

Kelly threw a punch that Jonatan deflected, Marco saw his chance and appeared from the hair to try and hit him in the jaw once again but Jonathan dodged and grabbed Marco pulling him off of Kelly’s abundant hair, throwing him across the room. 

Kelly took the opportunity and threw a punch to his stomach, the man recoiled slightly but recovered almost instantly, Kelly tried to charge again but all she got was Jonathan’s foot, the kick was so strong that she flew all the way to where Marco was. 

“Kelly! Kelly are you ok?” Marco caught the flying Kelly. 

“My hair is as TOUGH as frozen peasssssss.” Kelly said clearly dizzy and disoriented. 

“That guy is too strong.” Said a worried Sabrina as she reached Marco dragging Brittney with her. 

“Are you sure we don’t have a cannon or something to take care of this guy?” Chantelle said irritated and carrying Jackie with her. 

“No...but I have these...I really didn’t want to use them on a human being though.” Marco said sadly as he took the scissors from his pocket. 

“AND you have us!” Marco turned to see an approaching Tom and Janna on top of Nachos. 

“How about it bro? That guy owes me a rematch.” Tom said cracking his knuckles. 

“Come on Sab, we need to support these two.” Janna said, taking a marble of light from Brittney and then asked for the other from Chantelle. 

“Sorry we couldn’t take it to the queens, but they can still use magic at this range it seems.” Chantelle saw as both Moon and Eclipsa were dominating the mooks.

“Don’t worry me and the dragon can take care of these sleepy heads, let him have it!” Chantelle gave Sabrina a reassuring smile with her fist at heart level, while Nachos gave a confident snort and Sabrina nodded. 

Tom, Marco, Janna and Sabrina approached the leader of the cult, he didn’t seem all that tired and with the exception of a few small bruises not worse for the wear either. 

Tom took the lead and used a blast of fire at Jonathan who dissipated with one arm. 

“Fire without fuel is not that scary to me.” Jonathan said. 

“No one asked for a science lesson.” Tom screamed being propelled by fire blasts and hitting Jonathan with his horns on the stomach, finally making significant damage to the man but Jonathan planted his elbow in Tom’s back anyways. 

“Don’t touch him!” Jonathan heard Marco as he was falling almost on top of him, scissors in hand he slashed at the leader of the terrorists leaving a significant gash on his left arm, reaching the floor Marco took Tom and ran. 

“How’s this for science, FLOUR FLIES!” Sabrina said conjuring a swarm of flies made of flour that flew fast and directly towards Jonathan. 

“BOMB SCARAB!” Janna said making a small scarab with a lit match on top of it that exploded near Jonathan taking the flies with it making the explosion bigger and leaving a big cloud of smoke behind. 

“I can walk, dude.” Tom said with relief to Marco who was carrying over his shoulder. 

“Oh, sorry.” Marco helped Tom to his feet and noticed that the demon was giving him a weird smirk. 

“What?” Marco said, confused. 

“You should be pretty excited huh?” Tom said. 

“Well yeah, we are almost done with this coup.” Marco said, still confused. 

“No, man, he was using the exact same style as Mackie Hand, dude!” Tom said with a big smile. 

“Wait, What?” Marco was surprised. 

“Yeah, man, Mackie is a bit more flashy but I’ve been binging his movies lately and that guy, almost a one to one.” Tom said to Marco who had disbelief plastered all over his face. 

“Good eye boy, Mackie used it for spectacle so it’s quite different, don’t sell yourself short.” A voice said. 

“Oh thanks dud-.” Tom didn’t even had time to notice what has just happened as he was slammed into the ground breaking the floor underneath him and thrown across the room like a rag doll, then an axe kick made Marco’s back acquaintance with the floor making his scissors fly across the room. 

“Forgive me my boy, I thought everyone could leave this place alive but you taught me that I’m not that strong.” The mime girl appeared out of nowhere and straddled Jonathan’s neck pulling his hair and hitting him in the head, Jonathan was unphased and grabbed her with his right hand and threw her towards the pile of unconscious fighters he had already fought. 

“I got her!” Chantelle said as she caught the mime, Jonathan threw her in a way that made her spin and she was noticeably green and tried to hold back barf. 

Marco’s scissors had landed at Janna’s feet, she bent over to grab them as she saw with horror as Jonathan had Marco under his foot “Marco?” Janna said with a soft voice and misty eyes and when she saw Jonathan reading a final blow she just snapped. 

“=()$(“?##%%()$#=$#%/$)&$”%=!=#?¡”=” A demonic voice was heard speaking an unknown language as a bright purple light covered the hall and everyone turned to see it, there it was Janna floating above all, her eyes pure black as she tore the scissors into two separate blades, Marcello ran from Marco’s hoodie and ran towards it’s master on his big form. 

When Marcello reached Janna he fused with her turning her arms a dark purple, once this happened Janna pushed the air causing a burst of wind that separated Jonathan from Marco, though just barely. 

With Marco safe enough Janna started to cut the air with the scissors causing dozens of gash like portals to appear all over the hall, Jonathan dodged the cuts thinking it was an attack but was swallowed by a portal along Mina’s unconscious body, a few cloaked figures were swallowed by different portals and most importantly a huge gash that ate the group of unconscious people along with Marco and Nachos. 

Janna flew to catch up to Marco and when she entered the portal all portal closed, leaving the royal family, a demon boy now thoroughly pissed off and ready to fight, the entire knight force and a bunch of terrorists with no leadership, the latter of which promptly got on their knees with their hands up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna sound weird to say this but everything up to this point was just an introduction to the story that I was originally planning and I am excited as heck because I'm more than halfway done with this little spelling check and I can't wait to go back to making more new chapters.


	11. Chapter 11

The portal spat Marco out on a marsh going by how he was slightly sinking into the ground and the lack of trees but he didn’t have enough time to finish wondering what was going on as Janna was spat right on top of him falling on his stomach tightly clenching his scissors on her hands. 

“Janna quick, get up, I think we can reach the…” Marco looked up “Portal.” he said as he turned his head up and saw no portal anymore and he would have given himself up to despair if it wasn’t for a sudden and violent cough beside him. 

Looking down he saw Janna coughing up a lung, the purple splotches on her arms ran to her throat and disappeared there, her cough not subsiding even a bit. 

“Janna? Janna!” Marco started to rub her back worriedly until Janna hurled a big ball of a purple liquid that reformed itself into Marcello in its small form and full of energy while Janna was visibly exhausted and panting heavily. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a place to rest and some food, just hang in there.” Marco was scared, very scared but tried to reassure Janna anyways. 

“Be honest tiger, do I look as bad as I feel?” Janna said with a forced sly smile and Marco really hoped she didn’t feel THAT bad, she was very pale, it was painfully obvious that she was barely able to lift her head to look at him and she was still panting. 

“You look like a million dollars, now let’s get out of here.” he said getting up and carrying her on his back to start walking with Marcello following like a hyperactive puppy. 

“Hey, Janna, remember last time we were in this position?” Marco noticed with her on his back how cold she was, he should have put her jacket on her but right now he needed to find refuge. 

“Oh yeah...I remember...but I was the one carrying you.” Her voice was slow and very soft. 

“Yes! You were! I was trying to skate in order to impress Jackie, remember?” Marco was trying his damndest to keep Janna awake and it seemed to work as Janna gave the smallest of chuckles. 

“You came to me to teach you how to skate after dawn because you didn’t want anyone to see, how dumb can you be? I don’t even know how to skate.” Janna continued with the story. 

“Exactly I’m a dumbass, there I was nine years old, skating at night with an audience, an audience that would say how much I failed at it to anyone.” Marco said with a big smile and an enthusiastic tone. 

“I used that as blackmail for months...but I would have never said that to anyone...you were so cool and only in front of me...no one else...I felt so happy.” Marco could feel a small smile coming from Janna. 

“Was I? I just remember you carrying me in this position while I was crying after a specially nasty hit.” Marco readjusted her on his back and gave her a nice laugh. 

“No, you were the coolest...you tried so hard...you fell so many times...the safe kid put himself through all that...because you thought Jackie was worth it.” Janna clenched her hands on Marco’s hoodie just so slightly. 

“And then you thought...Star was worth it.” Marco could hear the slightest of sobs coming from Janna. 

_ “There is literally no way for you NOT to hurt her, just...make it gentle.”  _ Marco heard Greedy Heart, its voice dejected and concerned. 

“Come on, I’m sure we will find someplace to…” Marco’s eyes widened for what was in front of him, a bunch of crudely made huts. 

“Janna, we just hit the jackpot.” Marco ran towards the conglomeration of small homes. 

“Hello! Anybody here!?” Marco called out, but no one answered and checking the insides yielded no results either, could it have been a monster or something similar? Marco wanted to not take the risk but as he felt Janna slowly going limp on his back he had to ignore any warning his brain was giving him. 

After leaving Janna unconscious and draped on her jacket and his hoodie on a hut Marco went on to find food, looking in the huts he found an assortment of food, most of it had already rot but the fruit was recognizable enough to find some trees that were planted just a few feet beside the gathering of huts. 

Marco inspected the trees and they were indeed once planted and cared for by someone, if the people here saw necessary to plant these trees then that put his fear of it being poisonous to rest...at least from the people who lived here, it could still be poisonous to them.

Shaking the fear off his head he took a big bite to try it, it was sweet and it went down his throat well, with a deep sigh he ran with as much of the fruit as he could carry back to Janna.

“Here, Janna, can you eat?” Marco tried to hand a piece of the fruit to her but she could barely hold it as it fell off her hand. 

_ “Marco, I don’t think she can chew.” _ Greedy Heart sounded like he was worried sick, a sentiment that Marco shared and was exacerbated when they heard Janna’s stomach rumble. 

_ “Just do something DAMN IT!”  _ Greedy Heart was panicking now. 

Marco took a big bite off of the fruit once again and chewed it thoroughly until it was a watered-down paste and hovered his face mere inches above Janna’s sleeping face, with some hesitation their lips met as he fed Janna mouth to mouth, Marco separated himself from her quickly with an enormous smile as he heard her swallow. 

_ “Don’t get comfortable right now, that was only a bite.”  _ Greedy Heart tried to berate Marco but was betrayed by its noticeably relieved and calm tone, with a nod Marco went back to work. 

***Elsewhere on the same marsh***

A bunch of unconscious women were spat out of a portal far up in the sky, the only three that were still conscious were screaming their heads off...well two of them were, the other one was pantomiming like she was. 

As they were falling the mime noticed the disoriented woollett falling and took the nearest unconscious person she could take on her case a blonde with a seafoam highlight in her hair and shoved her into the hairy monster, Chantelle and Sabrina noticed this and the mime girl desperately signaled for them to go into the woollett’s hair. 

After a determined nod the mime herself dove into the woollett, meanwhile Sabrina and Chantelle grabbed the unconscious Brittney and threw themselves into the ball of hair. 

To their surprise they entered into what looked like a fairly normal home, except mostly everything was made of hair and what wasn’t normal was that it was in zero gravity because of the free-falling. 

“Hey, mime! Is this gonna save us?” Chantelle asked the one with the idea in a panic and the mime answered with just a shrug.

“Oh, this is just great!” Chantelle screamed in frustration. 

“We’re all gonna die!” Sabrina with her eyes filled with tears hugged Chantelle tightly. 

“I should have run when I had the chance!” Chantelle hugged the desperate doctor back with tears forming in her eyes. 

Suddenly everything came to a sudden crash to the floor, the mime stumbled into her feet while the hugging women didn’t even want to open their eyes to see what had happened. 

“Is it over?” Sabrina asked with the slightest hint of hope in her voice. 

The mime peeked her head out of the mass of hair and gave a little jump. 

“What!? What is it!?” The two women had let go of each other and now were almost on top of the mime. 

The mime reentered the house with a giant smile on her face and gestured to Chantelle and Sabrina to look outside, after gulping down their doubts and giving each other a reassuring look both took a peek outside. 

To their surprise, they were not on the ground...but they were not falling either, they were on top of a dragon flying over the marsh. 

“She just wants a nice place to land, don’t worry girls.” Kelly said with her voice still showing a bit of dizziness. 

“Kelly, are you alright?” Sabrina asked the girl who had her hands on the dragon’s horns, holding them as if they were handlebars. 

“The world is still spinning a bit but I don’t think the floor is pistachio ice cream anymore, so I would say I’m much better.” Kelly said with subtle enthusiasm mixed with embarrassment. 

***On the ground***

Everyone had already regained consciousness and left Kelly’s hair, they were now on the ground getting treated by Sabrina. 

“So you bought those back in my dimension, good for you guys, there is nothing better for bruises and broken bones than woollett medicine.” Said Kelly proudly, she had a bandage over her forehead. 

“Yeah, because you need it often I assume.” Said Jackie sitting patiently with her shirt off as she was getting both shoulders bandaged. 

“Really? Why?” Chantelle asked she had a noticeable dab of ointment on her chin. 

“I don’t give a fuck about any of this, when are we going back home? AND WHEN CAN I KICK THAT OLD FART’S ASS UNTIL HE BEGS FOR FORGIVENESS THAT I WON’T GIVE?” Brittney screamed at the top of her lungs, she had already put on Chantelle’s dress back so it was not noticeable but her shoulder was bandaged and her right hand was very noticeably splinted, everyone’s mood went down after this comment. 

“Without Janna, there is no way we are going back.” Sabrina said sadly. 

“WHAT?” Brittney screamed jumping to her feet, Sabrina for her part was so startled that she fell into the ground covering her face. 

“Take it easy Wong, we fell into the same portal as Marco, she HAS to be here.” Jackie said glaring daggers to the rich woman. 

“Great! We know she is here because her victim of stalking is here!” Brittney said obvious sarcasm laced her comment. 

“So tell me officer, WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!” Brittney screamed as she dramatically opened her arms to the sky and her voice echoed. 

“We were ten feet away from Barfo on that hall maximum when we were swallowed by that portal or whatever and now because of that overfed lizard we are probably miles away from them, what if they don’t know we are here and leave? That is assuming that the creepy bitch is actually here!” The mime got between Brittney and Nachos on a defensive gesture towards the dragon, Brittney glared at the performer. 

“Because of that overfed lizard we are still breathing, Wong, and she is our only advantage in finding those two, not only can she fly but she can track Marco, so how about you shut up and try to carry your own damn weight half as well as the “oVErfED LIzarD” can?” Jackie said standing up and giving air quotes to the overfed lizard part, Brittney’s glare deepened which seemed to annoy Kelly a great deal. 

“And her name is Nachos fucking learn it!” Both Jackie and Kelly said at the same time. 

“You ok there, doc?” Jackie said with a warm, caring voice to Sabrina as she offered her hand to help her up. 

“Yeah, I’m ok, but don’t strain your shoulders, don’t worry I can stand up.” Sabrina said obviously a bit shaken but still giving a nice if strained smile to Jackie who was now putting her shirt back on. 

“How do you even know this dragon anyways? You arrived in it last time you went to our building.” Chantelle said, checking Nachos’s name tag while scratching the dragon’s neck. 

“Well she is Marco’s but I don’t know how he got her.” Jackie said with a shrug. 

“As far as I know, she is a dragon cycle he shared with Hekapoo, if there is a story behind it, I’ve never heard it.” Kelly said approaching Nachos and stroking her head. 

“Who is Hekapoo? I’m sure I’ve heard the name somewhere.” Asked Sabrina. 

“You are the bookworm, right? Then you probably read about her in a book, she was part of the magic high commission some of the most powerful magical beings that ever existed, she was the most powerful and well-versed portal maker in all dimensions.” Kelly said as if she was giving a class then she turned to Jackie with a grimace. 

“And just like us, she was also one of Marco’s...old  **Female** friends.” Kelly gave air quotes to that last part, Jackie was a bit surprised by this revelation. 

“Wait, but didn’t Marco help Star destroy magic and all magical creatures with it?” Jackie said shaken, Kelly just gave a nod and Brittney went pale. 

“Are you telling me Barfo straight-up murdered his ex? And Butterface helped?” Brittney said out of breath. 

“If you want to see it THAT way…” Kelly said with a shrug and an “I dunno.” Brittney though she fell to her knees. 

“A crazy cult, a jacked-up kung fu old man, I’m looking for a guy that killed his ex and I’m trapped in another dimension, on what crazy bullshit did I just get myself involved with? I SHOULD HAVE RUN WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!” Brittney screamed on the floor. 

“Hey, I said the same thing, boss.” Chantelle said with a smile on her face as now she and the mime girl were completely engrossed pampering Nachos, Chantelle though left what she was doing in order to get her boss on her feet. 

“How do you stand such a bratty bitch?” Kelly said to the short, big hipped woman. 

“Eh, you get used to it, heck you get to enjoy her little tantrums knowing full well that each and every one of them ruins her day little by little.” Chantelle spoke with a dreamy sigh. 

“Sometimes I wish I could just sack and replace you.” Brittney said now on her feet, her eyes still locked on a thousand-yard stare. 

“And sadly for both of us we just can’t live without each other anymore, Kelly can you hold on to her? I don’t think she is in good condition to walk anymore.” Chantelle asked politely. 

“What?! I don’t want that bitchy brat in my ha-.” Kelly seemed a bit offended by the request but Chantelle had been in the business for years now. 

“She will shut up once she is in there.” Chantelle deadpanned. 

“Put her in.” Frustrated Kelly let her hair fall all over her and Brittney disappeared into the soft, light green mound. 

“Thank you for that.” Chantelle gave Kelly a small smile. 

“But I need to say, you.” Chantelle pointed to Jackie “you.” Chantelle pointed to Kelly “that Hekapoo girl and the princess, I would have never imagined Diaz had it in him.” Chantelle said with a very small amount of surprise. 

“I would be remiss to forget just how obsessed Janna is with the guy...who else? Sabrina anything you want to tell us?” The group had now begun advancing through the marsh, Sabrina was behind Chantelle who was holding on to the guide of the group, Nachos. 

“What? No! Of course not!” Sabrina said a luminous blush on her cheeks, Chantelle just gave an “uh-huh.” in acknowledgment. 

“What about you?” Chantelle turned towards the mime who avoided her gaze and began whistling. 

“Oh my god! I can’t believe it!” Chantelle gave a cute, girly laugh that was cut short because of a clap of loud thunder. 

“You have to be kidding me.” An exasperated Jackie said, holding her hand out to confirm that yes, it was beginning to rain. 

“Hmmm, Kelly not to be rude but…” Sabrina bashfully said to the librarian who turned to see her, her eyes and mouth being visible even through all that hair. 

“No worries, you are welcome whenever.” Kelly said with a nice smile as she turned back around to let everyone in. 

“We’re in.” Screamed Sabrina as the last girl entered Kelly’s hair. 

“No, wait, someone is missing.” Kelly said as Nachos entered the little house and the dragon proceeded to shake herself dry. 

“OHHH COME ON!” Screamed Brittney as she covered herself from the dragon’s artificial rain. 

“There are some leaks Kell, should I be worried about your hair?” Said Sabrina as she examined the hair that made the walls of the house. 

“No, that’s normal don’t worry, but some leaks are better than being in the rain, aren't they?” Kelly said with a small laugh. 

“Agreed, I mean this workout outfit is not the best for the chilly air outside.” Chantelle said, shivering a bit. 

“Oh! I have some blankets, they are in the wardrobe next to the sofa.” Kelly instructed. 

“Don’t worry about us, aren’t you cold?” Said Sabrina concerned. 

“Yeah! Something we can do?” Came Jackie’s voice. 

“No worries, I won’t get all that wet in this rain and I ain’t cold at all either, that’s what my hair is for, it’s like an umbrella and a padded suit all at the same time.” Kelly said with a giggle, but at the mention of an umbrella the mime got an idea, she peeked her head outside the wall of hair and everyone heard the sickening sounds of someone returning the contents of their stomach. 

“Oh my gosh! So helpful, where were you hiding an umbrella this big?” Kelly said with an excited voice as the leaks stopped all at once, then the mime reentered the house, cleaning her mouth with a napkin. 

“Hairball, you really don’t wanna know the answer.” Brittney said with disgust. 

***Back with Marco and Janna***

Janna fell asleep after finishing her fifth piece of fruit, Marco would have been worried if her breathing hasn’t been as steady and easy as it was after she passed out, she was still very pale though and it would be no stretch to assume she was still weak. 

Marcello had stayed on his small form and made himself comfortable on Janna’s chest while Marco entertained himself all this time by checking on Janna’s breathing by watching Marcello steady rise and descent until he felt a chilly air coming from outside. 

Marco snapped to attention and checked the weather, it was about to rain, with all due haste the Latino ran to the fruit trees and broke off some branches, as well as picking up some dried leaves and branches before returning to the hut. 

He made a fire at a safe distance from Janna, then he just took back his position and got comfortable once again but the attempt was cut short as Janna’s breathing became forced and irregular. 

“Janna? Janna are you ok!?” Marco shook her a bit but there was no response. 

_ “Kiddo, I think she is shivering.”  _ Greedy Heart chimed in and lo and behold he was right, touching Janna’s hand the knight noticed she was freezing. 

_ “Don’t panic, you know what to do.”  _ Greedy Heart said in a reassuring voice. 

“That’s rich coming from the guy that was panicking a few minutes ago.” Marco said rummaging through the hut and finding a big thick blanket. 

Stripping himself he found himself hovering over Janna a big cloud of hesitation hanging over himself before finally dissipating it and taking away the improvised blanket that he had put over Janna. 

“I’m sorry, Janna.” Said Marco as he stripped the sleeping woman and noticed the number of tattoos the woman had gotten over the years. 

Besides the skull being tangled by thorny vines with roses on her arm near her shoulder, she had a pentagram tramp stamp, a goat skull on her left thigh that was hidden by her skirt, a demon on her right ankle, and the one that surprised Marco a tattoo on her left shoulder blade, it was three eyes hovering over a mustache with a ribbon under it that said  **R.I.P. Quirky Guy** . 

Wasting no time he held her tightly on a heap and covered both of them with the blanket sitting right beside the fire, Marcello noticed the action and joined them inside. 

Janna snuggled to Marco’s neck as the Latino was caressing her back and holding her hands to keep her warm, Marco was relieved when he heard Janna’s breathing steading itself. 

Marco started to drift off to sleep as he heard a small chuckle coming from the woman in his arms. 

“You know, I never tried anything serious with you because I didn’t want you to lie to me like you did with Jackie.” Janna turned to see Marco eye to eye and the Latino didn’t know if she was either shivering from the cold or trembling over forcing herself to lift her head to look at him. 

“But I’ll admit that if this is how it feels when you lie, I can see the appeal of it.” Janna went back to Marco’s shoulder to try to fall asleep. 

“Only for today, can you lie more to me?” Janna said in a small voice and she immediately felt Marco’s embrace tightened. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I took you for granted, I’m just blind if I didn’t notice when the friend that had been by my side since kindergarten just up and disappeared, I promise I’ll never let that happen again, I’ll give you a special pass to the castle, you’ll get a copy of the keys to my room, I’ll shower you with as much attention you want, so please, just...please...stay somewhere I can reach you.” Marco said snuggling closer to Janna as he sobbed. 

“You’re good...that didn’t sound like a lie at all.” Janna felt Marco’s hand leave hers to grab her by the chin to look at her eyes. 

“It wasn’t.” Marco said with a shaky voice, his nose touching hers, both closed their eyes slowly and finally, they kissed, Janna was just letting it happen but was receiving the attention gratefully, Marco was wondering why she had so many tattoos but she limited her piercings to the two rings on her brow until he felt a piercing on her tongue, he played with the nub with his tongue, caressed hers and tasted the insides of her cheeks but the kiss was short-lived as Janna lost enthusiasm pretty soon and separated from him. 

“My head hurts.” She said uncomfortably and laid into Marco's shoulder one last time as she started to snore lightly, her breathing stabilizing. 

_ “Did...Did she just?”  _ Greedy Heart was flabbergasted. 

“Chill, she IS tired...me too actually.” Marco said with a yawn. 

_ “Well yeah, I’m sure sleeping would be nice for the blue balls, good night kiddo.” _ Greedy Heart said. 

“Yeah, good night to you too, annoying little gremlin.” Marco said and Marcello burst from the blanket, giving an expectant look to him, the Latino gave him a little tired smile. 

“I didn’t mean you, but good night to you too Marcello.” Marcello gave a happy neigh and dove back into the blanket. 

***The next morning***

Marco woke slowly that morning, trying to feel Janna on his arms only to notice she wasn’t there anymore, his eyes snapped open and fully nude he jumped to his feet running outside. 

“Janna!? Janna where ar-.” Marco’s panic was cut short as he saw the entire group of Jackie and the others, staring at him, all of them froze mid activity, Sabrina was feeding a fully clothed Janna, Jackie and Kelly were cooking food on a campfire, Chantelle and the mime girl were bathing Nachos and Brittney was just sitting at a moderate distance from the group, the latter of which was the only one that didn’t froze, Brittney just gave a smug smile and a snort. 

“Don’t be a prick, boss, that is a solid eight out of ten.” Chantelle commented nonchalantly, that comment was the thing that brought everyone out of their stupor. 

Janna caught the spoon in her mouth before Sabrina could drop it as she desperately and in a very dramatic way covered her eyes, the mime pantomimed putting on a blindfold, and the pair of beet red Jackie and Kelly screamed. 

“How long are you gonna stand there, dumbass?!” Kelly and Jackie tried to avert their gazes but their eyes were drawn on to Marco like magnetism, Brittney just scoffed at the chaos that was going on and Chantelle was calmly and openly staring at Marco’s crotch. 

“I’m sorry!” Marco finally snapped back to reality and ran back inside the hut, Nachos following on a mad dash for her master. 

“Wait! Nachos?! Sit! I need to get dressed!” there were sounds of things falling, breaking, lots of girly screaming from Marco, and a few roars from Nachos before the knight got out of the hut fully dressed. 

“There we go! Everything is ok now!” Marco said, opening his arms in a “Taa daa” kind of way with a nervous smile plastered on his face. 

“ _ Your hoodie is on backward, you donkey _ /Barfo.” Greedy Heart appeared on Marco’s chest and told him at the same time as Brittney did, with a small blush Marco took off his now sleeveless hoodie and put it on right. 

“Better?” Marco said clearly exhausted, but Chantelle, Brittney, and the mime were once again stunned stiff. 

“What the fuck is that Barfo?” Brittney said pointing an accusatory finger towards Greedy Heart. 

“That is a curse Marco has...so far it’s harmless, just ignore it.” Sabrina said, getting her composure back. 

_ “Hey honey, you said an eight out of ten, but I assure you when it’s time to perform it gives nothing below a 100.”  _ Greedy Heart wagged its eyebrow to Chantelle who raised one eyebrow and smirked. 

“Talk is cheap, cyclops, I will judge myself thank you very much.” Chantelle said in a haughty tone. 

_ “That sounded like a prom-.”  _ Marco silenced his chest with a hard slap and turned to see the group with a serious face. 

“First and foremost, Janna, How are you feeling?” Marco approached the smirking Janna who was still chewing on her breakfast, she swallowed and let the spoon fall from her lips.

“Dude, I just saw your dick, full view, first row, do you really need to try and sound all authoritative?” Janna gave a chuckle, Marco scowled. 

“Chill, I’m talking and chewing my own food aren’t I? You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about this, you don’t need to chew my food for me either for that matter.” Janna waggled her eyebrows in a flirty way, Marco just sighed with relief. 

“So you’re alright?” Marco said relaxing. 

“Much better, still a bit tired but everything is alright.” Both Janna and Marco gave each other a knowing look that might have ended up with them lost in each other’s eyes. 

“No! Everything is not alright!” If Brittney hadn’t snapped both of them back to reality. 

“Listen here you creepy bitch! I’m gonna go back home, I don’t care if you come out the other side of that portal a fucking corpse, just take me back already!” Brittney demanded with, as a loud and angry voice she was capable of. 

“Ok sure, what was that reversing spell Kell?” Janna turned her gaze to Kelly. 

“Wait! Janna opening that portal last time left you anemic! If you do that right now you might actually end up a corpse.” Sabrina pleaded to her magic mentor.

“Nah, Sab, last time we used the reversing spell I was right as rain after it might be the same for this portal.” Janna got on her feet with some struggle. 

“Besides, the rich kid needs to have her tantrum catered to, you don’t want to be between her and what she wants don’t you?” Sabrina turned to see a livid Brittney behind her and despite her best judgment Sabrina ended up hiding behind Janna, the girl that was barely standing on her own two feet at the time. 

“Marco, I need your scissors, Kelly, I need the spell.” Janna said with a smug smirk. 

Nobody else had anything to say and all the resources were given to Janna, still wobbly on her legs she still read the spell and recited it, the same light show as last time was visible, Janna’s eyes pitch black as she was glowing with purple light, a blade of the scissors in each hand, her voice turned demonic and started to speak in an unknown language. 

Marcello once again fused with her and finally, she slashed the air with the scissors, everyone turned to see the forming portal...for nothing, the sky was completely clear. 

“Did the portal open in the same place as last time? We need to hurry and fin-.” Brittney started with her desperate, angry voice as it had become her habit on this little adventure. 

“No, Wong, last time she used the spell the portal opened right under us like it did the first time, following that logic that slash should have opened another portal.” Jackie said her voice filled with dread. 

“...The reversing spell reverses the very last spell the caster used, no more, no less...I don’t want to believe it but maybe…” Sabrina said losing all the strength on her legs and falling to the ground. 

“Yes, it’s exactly like that, the spell counts each individual portal as its own spell, Janna opened dozens last time...it looks like ours wasn’t the last one she opened.” Kelly ended on a solemn note. 

“Wait, so that means.” Chantelle said as it finally dawned on her and the mime girl covered her mouth in horror.

“There is no safe way to go back home.” Marco said following Sabrina as his legs just seemed to give up and collapse from under him. 


	12. Chapter 12

This marsh dimension was actually very pleasant and peaceful when you stopped and took in everything that was there, or more accurately what wasn’t there, so far the only sounds the group have heard there were their own footsteps on the mud, the quiet woosh of the wind, the sound of rain, and of course...

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!” Brittney's shrill scream that everyone there has been hearing for the past three hours at least, she had hogged a hut for herself and took a particularly thick stick with her, everyone was sure that the hut was going to collapse from damage in an hour or two. 

“You know what the worst part of this is?” Jackie said hugging her knees, everyone turned to see her. 

“I feel that she is the only one responding accordingly to all this.” Jackie sounded morose. 

“What do you say, guys? One or two huts for each of us to trash? There is gonna be at least one standing for us to sleep in after we are done.” Jackie said trying to sound enthusiastic but it was noticeable that she was just holding back tears. 

“I would trash five but I’m not in any condition to do that.” Janna said with a yawn. 

“YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!!” Brittney kept screaming from inside the hut. 

“I really didn’t, believe me.” Janna said with an actual hint of regret, Marco saw all this and whistled to call Nachos to him and started to leave the place. 

“Where are you going?” Jackie said, laying on her back to look at the leaving knight. 

“I’m going to look for supplies since it looks like we are going to...take the long way home.” 

“I’ll go with you.” Said Jackie standing up. 

“No! I’ll go, you have to rest your shoulders.” Sabrina got up. 

“I have some books here, maybe one would be useful.” Kelly stood as well. 

“Hey! You two are the only ones that can protect people here, you should stay.” Marco tried to stop both girls. 

“Excuse you!” Chantelle said standing up irritated and the mime girl adjusted her beret and took an old-timey boxing stance. 

“Let’s not forget that the one with the broken hand is probably the most dangerous of us right now.” Jackie said pointing at the abused hut. 

“Girls look, Jackie, Brittney and Janna need to rest, Chantelle, I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if something attacks this place, specifically something you can’t fight with judo and Mime you and I both know you can’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag.” Marco said while turning to see each person addressed individually. 

“Kelly you are a recognized warrior and Sabrina you are the only one that can use magic at the moment, you need to stay and protect the injured.” Marco said decisively.

“Listen here Diaz, there has been continuous screaming here for hours and nothing has attacked us yet so there is nothing here to attack us.” Kelly said getting all up on Marco’s face as a small barrier made out of blue light covered the whole group and a few huts. 

“I agree with you Kell but let’s give Diaz some peace of mind.” Janna said and noticed Marco staring at her with big concerned eyes. 

“You think a little anemia is going to stop me? Five years of self-taught magic, everything is alright...well at least the barrier is.” Janna said as she pointed at herself with both her thumbs. 

“This thing is going to stand for like five hours and can stop anything equal or less than a rampaging gorilla...Maybe it could take Wong.” Janna said, taking three magic balls from her pockets. 

“I HEARD THAT!” Brittney continued to scream. 

“Good for you... Take Marcello with you, he is a much better battery than these marbles.” Janna lied down on her side giving her back to the leaving party while waving them goodbye. 

“Any objection left?” Kelly asked Marco in a defiant tone, her and Sabrina looking at him with a decisive glare and Marco gave a defeated sigh. 

“None, we’ll be back, stay safe all of you.” Marco turned to leave now with companions and a hyperactive unicorn on the hood of his hoodie. 

***With the gathering party***

After about an hour of fruitless search, they came across a woodland, it seemed like a better option to look for something than with the barren marsh. 

“That marsh seems pretty high on ph, there wasn’t any fish using it to raise their young or anything edible there.” Sabrina said staring at the marsh from the woodland. 

“Which makes this question even more important, what were you feeding Janna?” Marco raised his eyebrow on a questioning look towards Sabrina. 

“On that, you should ask Kelly.” Sabrina made a scowl. 

“What happened?” Marco raised his empty palms as a sign of peace. 

“Did you really break up with Kelly and Jackie the way I heard?” Sabrina’s scowl deepened. 

“What?! What did you hear?” Marco began. 

“Just answer the question.” Sabrina gave Marco an intense stare, the Latino has never seen her like this. 

“Sad for you but going through a storm and falling off of the sky with someone kind of forces a little bond to form and I’ve heard stuff I never imagined from you.” Sabrina said. 

“Like I said, Wha-.” Marco began. 

_ “Are you really gonna just start handing excuses?”  _ Greedy Heart interrupted but to Sabrina, it only looked like Marco stopped mid-sentence to take a deep breath. 

“Those weren’t my best decisions, I’ll admit.” Marco said, avoiding any eye contact.

“You don’t say, it’s hard to believe how much Jackie was covering for you, she kept going on and on ‘No, we just didn’t work out’, ‘He had better things to worry about than me’, I just felt bad for her.” Sabrina lectured. 

_ “That woman sincerely deserves to give your ass a beating, a little one at least, you owe her that much given how much she tries to cover it!”  _ Greedy Heart berated. 

“Are you two going to hurry up!?” Kelly said way ahead of them, neither had noticed when she had separated from them. 

“Kelly though, she didn’t have many good things to say.” Sabrina whispered to Marco’s ear, his eyes widened, and then ran towards the woollett. 

“Kelly listen, about-.” Marco caught up to Kelly and began to try to explain himself. 

“About what you did in the library? Don’t worry, I get it, there were urgent matters and I wasn’t being cooperative at all, let’s just drop the issue.” Kelly stated matter of fact without ever looking back at Marco. 

“Well, yeah better that way.” Marco said in a slow, grateful voice as he lowered his pace allowing Kelly’s back to get further and further away. 

_ “You fucking coward.”  _ Greedy Heart growled gutturally. 

“Look, here is an actual pressing matter, there is no food here either.” Kelly finally turned around and her furrowed brow was prominent enough to be noticed at the distance, the Latino was just hoping it was directed at the lack of food and not to him. 

“Those trees were a good source of food but just one kind of fruit is not going to be a good safety net while we stumble blindly through the whole fucking MULTIVERSE!” Kelly said gradually getting angrier and angrier as they advanced deeper and deeper into the thick grove. 

“Wait! Guys...what is that?!” Sabrina was pointing at something, Kelly and Marco went to see and the knight was stunned by what he saw. 

“Is...is this for real?” Marco said in a low voice as he saw the familiar place in front of him, a single entrance on a puddle of mud with a broken neon sign on top that proudly said “The tavern at the end of the multiverse”.

***The resting party***

Brittney had finally tired herself out but she hadn’t gone outside the hut that was now sporting a few new holes in its frame. 

“Ahhhh, sweet silence.” said Chantelle while snuggling inside a blanket. 

The mime girl put her hands around her ears as a hearing aid, with her eyes closed and a satisfied expression she took a few deep, relaxing breaths. 

“I know right.” said Jackie with a big smile on her face. 

“So, now that we can hear our own thoughts...How was it Janna?” Chantelle said scooting near Janna with a curious smirk. 

“Eh!?” Janna, who was taking a small nap, was softly awake. 

“What do you mean?” Janna asked, still half asleep. 

“Come on, girl! Don’t play dumb, I want all the juicy details!” Chantelle said surprising Jackie as the face of the secretary was filled with the most emotion the cop has ever seen her. 

“Dude, is this really the time?” Jackie said to Chantelle who nodded enthusiastically. 

“I mean, come on, the next dimension we go to could have super poisonous air or something and kill us as soon as we step on it, might as well have fun right now.” Chantelle explained to the cop, Janna’s confusion not diminishing in the least as the mime girl sat beside her with the same expression as Chantelle. 

“Toi aussi?” Jackie said exasperatedly to the mime that shrugged with a luminous blush on her face. 

“Details of what? Time for what? I really don’t follow.” Janna said frustrated as she was sitting up. 

“Janna, I know if I finally managed to bag the guy I had been pining for my whole life, I wouldn’t shut up about it.” Chantelle said, wiggling her eyebrows, Janna’s pupils turned to pins. 

“Wait, what?” Janna’s face was showing subtle terror. 

“Bitch! Sabrina found you two totally naked covered by a blanket!” Chantelle jumped to her feet leaving her blanket on the floor. 

“So how was it? He was holding you bridal style while he was sitting, I’ve tried that a few times but...it gets in the way.” Chantelle said with some disdain as she groped her very generous asscheeks.

“So come on! I need to know, was it good? I saw it this morning but is he a shower or a grower? Did you take it all the way? I don’t think you two had any contraceptives, did he finish inside? Was the splash as good as I’ve heard? I’ve never done it.” Chantelle finished the interrogation with a wide smile and a certain gleam in her eyes. 

“Wait! Wait! Wait! I get it, good one girls, pulling my leg like that! I’m not that stupid, PFFFFTTT, you guys found us naked under a blanket, yeah right!” Janna said as she got on her feet and backed away slowly from the gossipy secretary while her hands were doing all kinds of desperate gestures but stopped when she felt a hand feeling up her tail bone. 

“Ahhh!” Janna screamed as she quickly turned around with her hands shielding her backside. 

“What the hell Jackie?! How many times do I have to tell you I don’t swing that way?!” Janna screamed angrily to the groper that turned out to be a completely solemn Jackie. 

“A pentagram.” Jackie said in a soft voice, Janna closed her mouth and fear came back full force to her face. 

“Right there where I touched there is a pentagram tattoo, it’s new, isn’t it? You’ve shown me all the other ones but not that one.” Jackie finished with a small comforting smile. 

“Yeah, also a goat skull on your thigh and a demon on your ankle.” Chantelle said with a bit of concern, the mime girl pantomimed having a mustache, then made glasses with her fingers and put one of the “lenses” on her forehead and finally started to pray. 

“Oh yeah! And the memorial for that ...ehmmmm…quirky guy?” Chantelle finished listing all of Janna’s hidden tattoos. 

“No! You have to be kidding me! I finally, I finally and yet...GOD DAMN IT!!!” Janna harshly scratched her head.

“AHAHAHAHA serves you right! BITCH!” Brittney came out the hut at last, her hair dripping with sweat was clinging to her face, Chantelle’s dress had noticeable sweat splotches everywhere and the woman herself was panting heavily and needed the door frame to lean her weight on to. 

“Note to self: Burn that dress.” Chantelle said with a bit of regret, she really liked that dress. 

“Why you little-.” Janna turned to the rich girl with a furious glare on her face. 

“WHAT!? LITTLE WHAT EXACTLY!? Before you fucking answer I’ll answer what you are, Thanks to you I lost a fiance, a company, and an enormous inheritance.” Brittney said approaching Janna on a brisk walk. 

“What did your unemployed-broken-hopelessly chasing after a taken guy-ass lose in all of this? You’ve acted every bit like when you worked for me LIKE YOU DON’T GIVE A FUCK! I know for sure Chantelle and that cunt cop lost at least stable employment, Barfo lost an important position and a 5-year relationship, and who the fuck even knows for sure what the rest lost!” Brittney stopped her rant, right in front of Janna whose face had softened significantly after that rant. 

“So yeah! I’m gonna fucking celebrate whatever makes you feel a god damned fraction of what you’ve put me through!” The last of Brittney’s energy was spent by that rant as she fell on her back to the ground and just stayed there panting. 

“Wong! That kung fu grandpa could have killed us and even if he didn’t, Mina had already said that she would keep us on a ce-.” Jackie raised her voice to Brittney but was interrupted by a touch on her arm. 

“Nah, Jackie, she is right, I fucked up big time, I shouldn’t have dragged so many people into this but for as much as it is worth Wong, I’m sorry and thanks for the little lesson in perspective.” Janna said now seemed more relaxed and at ease. 

“Apology not accepted bitch, I’m sure you don’t regret it in the least.” Brittney said now calmer...or tired. 

“All that I remember from when I opened those portals is that Marco was in danger and I saved him, I will NEVER regret something like that.” Janna sat on the floor. 

“You don’t regret it because you saved someone? Or because it was Marco?” Jackie asked her friend sitting beside her and hugging her by the shoulder.

“Ehehehe, do you really need to ask?” Janna gave a smirk. 

“So what DO you remember from last night?” Chantelle once again draped with the blanket sat down beside Janna. 

“Before passing out? Marco fed me some fruit mouth to mouth because I couldn’t even hold the damn thing, then I woke up clothed and you girls were making breakfast.” Janna said in a neutral voice. 

“So you might never recall your first with Marco huh?” Jackie said with some concern as the mime girl gave Janna a tight hug from behind. 

“No worries, it happened once, I’m sure I’ll make it happen twice.” Janna said with a confident smile while grabbing the Mime girl’s arm in reassurance. 

“You guys make me sick, Chantelle put those fat thighs to work.” Brittney stood up and approached the huddling group. 

“Right away, ma’am.” Chantelle extended her legs in front of her and Brittney used them as pillows. 

“Now, ma’am, she did apologize, so you shouldn’t lie to her face.” Chantelle told Brittney with a condescending tone.

“Ugh, fine, I’m not mad about losing the fiance part...I’m really mad about the company and the inheritance though.” Brittney said as she slowly drifted to sleep. 

“Heh heh, nice to see she can have these kinds of moments.” Jackie said with a smile as she watched Brittney sleep. 

“Well, that’s a weight off my shoulders, thanks Wong.” Janna said with a small smile. Mime girl stroked Brittney’s sweaty hair a bit, the Asian gave a little giggle and continued sleeping with a peaceful face. 

“Great, isn’t it? She is still as explosive as ever but believe me when I tell you, she has mellowed out a lot over the years, she is a lot less vain even...I mean...well she won’t chew you out if you don’t give her a designer item on her birthday at least.” Everyone shared a small giggle. 

***At the tavern***

Nachos burst into the tavern with the rest of the team following her. 

Marco saw the place and it was way different from what he remembered, it was deserted, dark because the few lights still on were now only torches, cobwebs and dust was gathering and the only occupant on the lounge was a man whose head was an eyeball at the counter. 

Nachos hurried inside and took down a single torch from the wall to play with, while the party approached the man who was cooking on a stove as he was drinking directly from a large glass bottle. 

“Excuse me, sir.” Marco said with a little nervous wave at the eyeball who fumbled a bit with the bottle when he noticed the new company. 

“Oh! Holy- There! Caught ya!” The eyeball said when he grabbed hold of the bottle that he returned to the counter and killed the flame from the stove. The sound of Nachos roaring in delight filled the place. 

“Sorry fellas, haven’t seen a soul in quite a while, what can I help you with?” The man cleaned his hands on his apron before hitting his palms on the counter. 

“That! Food! Where do we find it!” Sabrina said desperately as she pointed at the stove. 

“Oh, so you’re new here, that means the portals are open again?” The eyeball said with hope as he leaned on the counter but he snapped his fingers and stood up straight once again. 

“What am I saying? You have to eat first don’t you?” The eyeball gestured at the stove. A flying torch flew above the group and Nachos caught it in her mouth. 

“No, we already ate and sadly the portals aren’t open, we kind of forced one open heh heh.” Marco said a bit embarrassed. 

“Ohhhh, that’s a crying shame, I was really hoping for a reopening... but well about the food, there is a single place on this whole dimension that has any kind of life in it...besides this tavern I mean.” The eyeball tried to sound ominous. 

“You mean those two fruit trees we found are the only source of food here?” Kelly said pulling her hair while Nachos caused a sonorous crash as she was playing. 

“What? No, there is a big lake with actually drinkable water, surrounded by workable soil...maybe the ones that left transported some soil elsewhere.” The eyeball pondered. 

“Where is that lake?” Marco asked. 

“Oh I made a map, let me make you a copy.” The eyeball took two pieces of paper and a pen. 

Nachos snuggled close to Marco proudly showing the torch to him, Marco petted her head, took the torch, and threw it for Nachos to catch. 

“What do you mean with the ones that left? We haven’t found a single soul besides you, sir.” Sabrina said with concern. 

“Well, this here was a booming tavern once upon a time, creatures from all dimensions could come here to run from their problems for a little while but one day a little blonde missy came here and just screamed that she was going to destroy magic, nobody believed her, they all laughed as she disappeared into a portal but the joke was on them, she actually did it and everyone here got stranded on this dimension.” The eyeball somberly said as he worked. 

“But shouldn't everyone on another dimension is returned to their original one if that came to happen, I mean, it happened to me.” Kelly said.

“Yes, but this place is special, it's not really connected to other dimensions, so when the magic disappeared it couldn’t find them here to take them back.” The eyeball said as Nachos was running behind him back and forth parading the torch. 

“But there is no one here, they found a way back home?” Kelly asked with hope dripping off of every word. 

“Did they find a way? Yes, was it back home? I don’t think so.” The eyeball pointed at a pitch-black wall on the tavern that not even the two torches beside it could give a glimmer of light to. 

“They threw themselves off of the multiverse?” Marco said breathlessly while looking at the wall. 

“Wait, what? That is the edge of all existence!” Kelly said she was scared as she took a step back from the wall despite being pretty far away from it already, while Sabrina stared at it in awe as she trembled in fear. 

“That it is, missy! Guess being cut off from your problems and everything you know, with no way of going back, might be more painful than the problems you were trying to escape in the first place.” The eyeball said in a solemn tone. 

“But what do I know, I can’t ask them why they did it even if I wanted to ehehehe.” The eyeball changed his tone to a light-hearted one and gave a shrug. 

“Don’t get me wrong I hope there are some still alive out there, but I’m not holding my breath, this dimension is entirely incapable of sustaining life, that’s why I opened the tavern here, that lake is as alien an object as we all are here so if there is nothing alive on its surrounding...well then there is not much hope to have, is it?” the eyeball handed the piece of paper to Marco. 

“Thanks, sir, do you want to go back with us, we can still force open portals.” Marco said to the eyeball who shook his head. 

“No kid, I know what forcing open portals entails, in fact I think you are crazy for even trying but you do you and well it’s miles better than the rest of the people I’ve seen.” The eyeball had to duck from an over-excited Nachos flying around the tavern with the torch in her mouth. 

“You sure?” Came the voice of a concerned Sabrina. 

“Yeah, it will be no problem for us, we already have a big party anyway.” Kelly said with a smile. 

“Very kind of you but I’ll stay, maybe the portals will open again and I’ll do my grand reopening, and if they don’t well I’ll sink with my ship, enjoy the food on the lake though, most of it are seeds from the snacks the tavern offered.” The eyeball waved goodbye to the party as they were going through the door but Marco stopped the dragon before she left. 

“You can’t keep this! Come on, leave it!” Marco struggled with Nachos for the torch. 

“Nah, kid, let it keep the new toy, haven’t seen that much joy in a while, warmed my heart right up!” The eyeball said with a happy tone. 

“Thanks, sir, and sorry for the trouble.” Marco said, finally leaving the tavern. 

***At the Lake***

“This place is awesome!” Screamed both Kelly and Sabrina as they were carrying fruit, vegetables, and fish from the bucket load and storing it on Kelly’s hair, Nachos and Marcello were frolicking together playing with the torch. 

“Let’s not leave the place barren girls, the eyeball still needs to eat.” Marco said with a laugh as he was fishing on the lake, Nachos and Marcello stopped playing on the other side of the lake and seemed to be communicating. 

“And you already caught enough fish, he is going to live on only salads for a while.” Sabrina said and both she and Kelly shared a chuckle. 

“Well this is gonna hold us for a while, let’s go back, heck let’s bring the girls back here, doesn’t matter where Janna opens the portal anyways.” Kelly said with a satisfied sigh. 

“We would need the huts though.” Marco mentioned offhandedly, on the distance Nachos handed Marcello the torch. 

“You could all sleep in my hair...or what? Are you too good for it now?” Kelly lost the playful tone she had since they arrived on the lake. 

“What? No, your hair is cozy and homely and spacious, it’s great in all aspects.” Marco said defensively. 

“Really? Shucks, and it’s still no better than a run-down hut?” Kelly said with a frown, she crossed her arms and gave her back to Marco, Nachos got near the group as Marcello was now frolicking with the torch alone in the distance. 

“Kelly! Should we go back for the girls? You’re right, it will be better if we stay here.” Sabrina put herself between them, and pushed Kelly away to leave her with Nachos, as the three of them were leaving Sabrina broke from the group and got near Marco to whisper. 

“Think of a good apology for when we get back.” Sabrina said as a helpful suggestion before catching up with Kelly and Nachos. 

“A good apology.” Marco sighed with some dread, wallowing in self-pity for a bit he took a good long look at the lake and noticed that it seemed very familiar. Marcello approached him with the torch on his snout, it was weird as the little unicorn was carrying a stick that was a few times bigger than he was. 

“Heh heh, Having fun buddy? What part of that torch specifically is so interesting?” Marco said taking the torch on hand, inspecting it, when he was done he noticed that Marcello was no longer there. 

“Hey, Marcello! Where did you go?” Marco looked around but his shock was short-lived as he noticed Marcello coming out from the lake. Marco gave a little laugh remembering something from a while back as he saw Marcello walking to the surface like an alligator, he got near the little unicorn with the torch in hand and kneeled. 

“Bwaaa Bwa Bwaaa, ahahahaha, there is just no way.” Marco’s good mood returned all at once and tried to give the torch back to Marcello but before the unicorn took the priced item the floor started to rumble. 

“What? What is going on?” A building started to surface on the lake’s center, a very familiar building. 

“That is...the magic sanctuary? This is where it ended up on?” Marco said in awe but as he was observing the long lost sanctuary and looking down he saw the little unicorn entering the building in a hurry. 

“Marcello? Marcello! Come back here!” Marco followed the black unicorn into the sanctuary. 

Entering the sanctuary Marco proceed to look for the black unicorn, searching high and low on the ancient building he ended up on the altar with no luck on finding Marcello, after catching his breath he stood on the edge of the altar to see if he could catch a glimpse of the hyperactive unicorn but the little rascal was smarter than him as Marcello took the torch from his hand and dove into the altar. 

“Wait! Marcello!” Screamed Marco as he dove into the altar after the unicorn. 

When Marco touched the liquid inside the tower of the altar he looked around, the place seemed like a big underground water reservoir, the torch floated down with him and surprisingly it was still lit. 

_ “Kiddo, I feel strange, I don’t *Gulp* Feel good.”  _ Greedy Heart sounded queasy and Marcello arrived swimming towards them. 

_ “Kiddo! Marco! What is going on!?”  _ Both Marcello and Greedy Heart started to glow a golden color, the torch that had been sinking suddenly started floating towards the surface also glowing gold. Marco running out of oxygen started swimming towards the surface following the much faster torch and Marcello, on a burst of speed, Marco managed to grab hold of the torch and practically flew towards the surface, bursting out of the altar. 

Marco held on to the torch for dear life, or at least he thought it was a torch...there was a very familiar feeling between his arms as he hit the floor, a familiar warm, furry sensation, not to mention what felt like a horn on his neck. 

“No.” Marco said in disbelief as he caressed the furry thing between his arms. 

“This can’t be true.” He moved his hands and felt soft silky hair and no matter how much he stretched his arms he didn’t seem to find the end of it. 

“It just can’t be you.” Marco touched about with practiced hands and cupped what he knew was a chin to lift it up. 

There it was, a human face covered in short white fur, pointy ears, a full head of incredibly long, fiery red hair, a pair of lightning bolt-like horns protruding out of the silky hair, a pair of fangs peeking out of the creature’s closed mouth. 

“This can’t be happening, it must be a lie.” Marco started to sob at the sleeping face in front of him, the sleeping woman started to groan and open her exposed eye slowly as the other one was covered by a bang of red hair. 

“Marco?” The woman was a bit disoriented but her eye was now visible, a muddy yellow sclera, an orange iris, and a black pupil, an eye that the knight just couldn’t forget. 

Marco didn’t respond, he just closed in to kiss the woman in front of him without hesitation, he was trying to deepen the kiss but she was struggling under him but after a bit he felt her comply and put both of her hands behind his head, taking this as an invitation Marco held her closer and shoot his tongue forward to explore once again this mouth he knew so well. 

Her warm embrace, he remembered it, he missed it, so calm, so comforting, so warm?...hot?...toasty?...scorching? 

_ “DUDE, SHE LIT YOUR HAIR ON FIRE!!!”  _ Greedy Heart screamed as loud as he could muster, snapping Marco back to reality. 

With a scream Marco let go of the woman and dove into the water below, putting out the fire. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you!? ASSHOLE!?” The woman screamed looking at the spot Marco had dived to. Shortly after the knight surfaced from the water gasping for air. 

“You’re welcome for reviving you H-poo.” Marco said with sarcasm before diving under the water again to avoid a rock that was thrown at him. 

“How many times do I have to tell you? DON’T CALL ME THAT!!!” She threw another rock that Marco evaded once again. 

“And who asked you to revive me?! I was fine! Fuck, I pretty much asked you to de-magic me!” Another rock, another dodge, Marco was now on dry land and making his way towards the altar.

“I told you she did.” Marco whispered to his sentient heart. 

_ “Doesn’t change the fact that you felt catholic levels of guilt over it, does it?”  _ His heart responded in his head while Marco continued to evade what was now a barrage of rocks. 

“So what? you revived me, hip hip hooray, I’m so done with all of this, sayonara to you, fucking duche.” The redhead took a pair of scissors like Marco’s but with a dark pink handle and silver blades to try and open a portal...she failed. 

“What? No, nonnononononono.” She tried in vain to open a portal several times until she threw her scissors to the floor in frustration, the scissors piercing through the ground. 

“What the fuck is going on?! I’m Hekapoo! Master of portals and interdimensional travel! Portals bend to my will! If I don’t want portals opening they don’t open and *I* want a portal to OPEN!” Hekapoo screamed at the sky as if scolding it for not knowing who she was. 

“Hekapoo, there is no more magic, well there is this little unicorn here but maybe he is not enough to get your powers off the ground.” Marco said meekly. 

“Oh! On that front, you actually did what you were supposed to do? Congratulations dumbass.” Hekapoo was even more frustrated now but she just crossed her arms and sat on the edge of the altar. 

“Hekapoo? What are you doing?” Marco said, carefully getting near the portal master. 

“I’m sitting here to think, now you can go the fuck away and leave me alone, I have nothing to talk with you, I want nothing to do with you, you and I were done the second I returned Nachos to you, fuck I would argue that we were done much earlier AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT COULD COME OUT OF YOUR STUPID MOUTH THAT CAN MAKE ME THINK OTHERWISE!” Hekapoo didn’t even turn her head to see him from the corner of her eye.

_ “OHHHH! But there is something you want to say, don’t ya kiddo?”  _ Greedy Heart came back to his head. 

_ “Come on, I won’t help you this time, I won’t make you say it, you are fighting this round with no second, kiddo.”  _ The sentient heart sounded delighted at this prospect but Marco started feeling dizzy. 

_ “You know what you need to say, you know what you WANT to say...just say it.”  _ Marco felt utterly confused, the whole time that Greedy Heart had been in his head it was annoying but it was relatively easy to ignore, but right now, his little exhortation felt like a siren’s call for the Latino. 

_ “Ohhhh, I see what you are doing! You want to wait for her to disappear again!”  _ Marco gave a panicked squeak and fell to his knees. 

“You’re still here?” Came the exasperated voice of Hekapoo.

_ “Isn’t that what you want to do? Keep your mouth shut and let her fade away again, I mean, at least this time you know for sure she hates you.”  _ Greedy Heart laughed maniacally at that and Marco finally understood what was going on, what made that accursed voice so powerful this time around...Greedy Heart was right, every fiber of his being knew he had to listen to Greedy Heart, no matter how much he wanted to resist. 

Marco hit his forehead on the ground as hard as he could, bit his lip until he drew blood and planted his nails on the floor with such force that he felt his nails separating from his fingers ever so slightly, everything from his head, his stomach and especially his heart wanted him to say it...but everything he has worked for the past six years would be meaningless if he said it.  __

“What is this stupid act you are putting? Think again asshole, pity is not my stro-.” Hekapoo turned to see the kneeling Latino and stood to approach him but Marco lifted his head suddenly, he had cracked a bit. 

“I MADE A MISTAKE!!!” Marco screamed at the top of his lungs, surprising Hekapoo, after letting the statement echo for a bit and after recovering his breath Marco fell at the woman’s feet. 

“I’m sorry, please Hekapoo, I’m so sorry, ask for something, anything, I will do whatever you want me to do to forgive me.” Marco was groveling at her feet and raised his head to see her, what he found was a glare so intense it could make a hole in his skull, making him tense in fear. 

“Excuse me, what am I supposed to be forgiving again?” Hekapoo said in a haughty tone as she tore her attention from Marco to check her nails.

“What?” Marco was confused but that was stopped abruptly as he felt his arms being grabbed and was forced to raise, he was still on his knees but now he was at chest level with Hekapoo. Looking around he saw the two Hekapoo clones that were holding his arms both were firm and solemn almost like statues. 

“LOWER YOUR HEAD!” The real Hekapoo stopped checking her nails to shoot a glare at the knight and he obediently complied. Acting as if that little outburst didn’t even happen, Hekapoo continued. 

“Yeah, you know how time in my dimension works, whatever you are apologizing for, it’s probably been a few millennia on my end and let’s not forget I was actually dead.” Hekapoo gave a shrug and an exaggerated smile. 

“So remind me...What am I forgiving?” Hekapoo said with fake innocence. 

“I...I...I blew the flame off of clone 35 on a pretty unfair way.” With his head still lowered Marco tried to free himself from the clones to no avail. 

“Really? Oh! Ok.” Hekapoo said uninterestedly. 

“I threw sand at the face of clone 16 during our fight.” Marco’s efforts doubled as he was trying his damndest not to say the truth, the words of which were already on his throat and mixed with fear created a big ball that barely allowed him to breathe. 

“Boooooring!” Hekapoo now turned around. 

“I shouldn’t have abused your scissors in the first place.” Marco gave up on trying to escape but he still didn’t want to admit it...he was afraid to admit it. 

_ “Come on kiddo, no fear, no stalling, just one step, she might be gone the next breath you take.”  _ Greedy Heart didn’t sound mocking or angry as he usually does...he sounded reassuring as if an old friend was cheering him on but Hekapoo gave a mocking laugh. 

“Really, dude? You know what? I might have given you too much credit, those two will disappear eventually, see ya.” Hekapoo was now on her way to leave. Marco’s eyes showed him a horrible mirage of the woman’s flesh turning into dust leaving only bones like the unicorns he saw years ago, the ball of fear in his throat began to feel more like a chokehold than anything else, and finally that fear won. 

“I SHOULD HAVE NEVER LIED TO YOU!!!” Screaming with his eyes clenched, Marco was finally able to draw in a breath, and because her back was turned and his head was down Marco didn’t see the wicked smile that formed on Hekapoo’s lips. 

“EXACTLY!” Hekapoo screamed, and with a flip, and a jump she slapped the back of Marco’s head with her whole body weight and the momentum of the jump, Marco’s head bobbed as a reaction and the Latino could swear that he could feel his brain rattling inside his skull. 

“I’M A DUMBASS! YOU WOULD HAVE HELPED ME ANYWAYS!” Marco continued to spill his guts, not allowing his head to rise. 

“That is a maybe from me but yeah.” Hekapoo gave him another slap just as hard and on the same spot. 

“I DIDN’T TRUST YOU, OF COURSE, I WOULDN’T HAVE EARNED A LICK OF IT FROM YOU!” Marco was now crying and still screaming at the top of his lungs. 

“Someone is getting smarter!” *Slap* 

“I LET YOU DOWN ON THE CRUELEST WAY I COULD FIND!” 

“That you did!” *Slap* 

“I LEAD KELLY BY THE NOSE AND THEN DID THE SAME TO HER! I’M A DOUCHEBAG!”

“That you are!” *Slap*

“I SWEPT EVERYONE INTO A GODDAMN MESS AGAIN, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?” 

“The answer is: you are just the worst.” *Slap* 

“I DIDN’T NOTICE WHEN JANNA DISAPPEARED, WHAT KIND OF FRIEND DOES THAT?” 

“A crappy one!” *Slap* 

“I IGNORED THE WOMAN I’VE LOVED SINCE I WAS A KID THE SECOND I GOT HER TO NOTICE ME, CAN’T I APPRECIATE THE GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO ME?” 

“I don’t know who she is but she didn’t deserve that!” *Slap* 

“I ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO DESTROY EVERYONE’S LIVES!” 

“Yep! You are quite the scourge.” *Slap* 

By this point Marco’s head was numb from the pain and he could swear the spot she was hitting was smoking, Marco was dizzy, his throat and eyes were burning and dry, he was short of breath, the tears that were freely flowing down his face had dried up completely and then Marco felt unconsciousness slowly seeping into his head, he didn’t really know what he was doing or where he was anymore but in that state, he still managed one more scream. 

“STAR WASN’T WORTH MY LIFE, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS!!!” Instead of another slap to the back of his head, the clones abruptly let his arms go and Marco simply let himself fall but Hekapoo’s embrace kept him from crashing into the ground. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Marco said half-conscious with strained, raspy, and spent sobs. 

“You know, I thought the mark of Hekapoo would keep me in someone’s mind, it worked wonders with some but you see it turned out a bald spot that will be filled later anyways, was too little for a certain idiot, so I was forced to think,  _ Maybe a more permanent mark is the way to go.” _ Hekapoo said in a warm, motherly voice as she affectionately stroked the knight’s hair with one hand and slowly bared his right shoulder with the other, Marco’s eyes widened when it dawned on him. 

_ “YEAH MAMA! HIT ME!”  _ Greedy Heart screamed with excitement on Marco’s head as the knight felt a pair of fangs sinking in his shoulder, piercing the flesh, drawing blood, and digging deep inside. 

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Marco wouldn’t be surprised if his throat was bleeding by now from all that screaming. 

Not only were Hekapoo’s fangs drawing blood, but every single tooth that had contact with his shoulder had also pierced skin and she was crunching down harder, he was sure that if she just pulled her head back a bit she would bite off a chunk of his shoulder. 

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” Marco said, exhausted he allowed Hekapoo to sink her teeth on his shoulder without a single protest, heck with his opposite arm he grabbed her head and pushed her harder into his shoulder. He heard a giggle as the revived woman loosened her bite slowly and painfully. 

Hekapoo turned to look at him with a soft expression and half-lidded eye, his blood had dyed her lips a deep red sort of like lipstick that she used to mark a kiss on his cheek before licking her lips clean. 

“Think of this as a very non-committed  _ I’ll think about it. _ ” Hekapoo had a soft smile on her face while Marco’s face expressed pain, exhaustion but above all else relief as his eyes rolled to the back of his head before he hit the floor on his back, his consciousness finally completely lost.

_ “Boy was that fun!”  _ Greedy Heart appeared with a giggle on Marco’s chest. 

“No way! An inner demon! A heart one at that! I can’t believe Marco actually was cursed by such an old-timey spell.” Hekapoo said with fascination. 

“ _ Ahahaha! Lady, he was way less experienced with magic when he got stuck with me, besides I was his arm at first.”  _ Greedy Heart said with the utmost politeness. 

“So you went from one of the most useful spells to just an annoying one? I mean only a fucking nay saiya would be more pathetic.” Hekapoo said with a hearty laugh. 

_ “Pffftt, he was cursed with a nay saiya too, but don’t worry, this guy might be a dumbass but lucky for me, he is a willing dumbass, so... _ I’m here to pick up the slack, my love.” Greedy Heart’s voice turned into the thirty-year-old Marco’s voice, Hekapoo squealed in delight. 

“So useful.” Hekapoo said, getting on all fours to plant a quick kiss on the neon purple lips on Marco’s chest. 

“Then tell me inner demon, I have to be worried about those words leaving this dummy’s mouth without his permission?” Hekapoo said in a slow sultry voice. 

_ “Please I go by Greedy Heart and perish the thought, lady, I left it all on his hands this time but I’m sure he wasn’t conscious for half of it, he truly felt it but he won’t remember it nor admit it if he does… yet.”  _ Greedy Heart said with a hint of disappointment but Hekapoo just laughed. 

“Oh well, at least he truly felt it… Thanks for not stopping me by the way!” Hekapoo screamed at the seemingly nothing but the whole group that Marco had entered the dimension with appeared from the entrance of the altar and approached the duo. 

“What did you think of the show, enjoyable?” Hekapoo said standing up with a smug expression. 

“Very.” Chantelle said with a bright red blush as she was biting and lightly sucking on the tip of her thumb, the mime besides her was just as red and was stretching the collar of her shirt while fanning herself with her other hand, the rest of the women though, they were on differing mixes of pissed and disgusted. 

Janna went to Marco and picked him up before licking the kiss that Hekapoo had painted on Marco’s cheek clean and spit it to the floor not breaking eye contact with the redhead all the while. Hekapoo raised her brow in fascination. 

“Territorial, are we?” Hekapoo said with a small giggle. 

Jackie took a deep breath and approached the pale woman.

“So, you are Hekapoo?” Jackie said slowly. 

“Yep, the one and only.” Hekapoo said with pride.

“Great, I’m Jackie Lynn Thomas and well, we forced a portal open and we are kind of stranded...here...hggggg.” Jackie got more and more awkward after every word left her lips, she shook her head clear and saw Hekapoo directly in the eye. 

“Look, no one here is all that pleased with what just happened.” Jackie said with a deep blush on her face while trying to avoid the red head’s gaze. 

“Speak for yourself!” Chantelle screamed. 

“But everyone here needs portals and from what I’ve heard there is no one better than you with those...besides the girl protecting her NOT territory over there is the only one with a source of magic here so you kind of need her.” Jackie pointed at Janna, the witch hissed in response while holding the knight tighter. 

“So I beg of you, for yours and all our sakes, help us with this.” Jackie said in a meek, pleading voice. 

“Yeah, sure.” Hekapoo replied offhandedly. 

“OK, I’m a businesswoman and I know no deal comes that easy! What’s the catch?” Brittney said with her arms crossed. 

“Oh! Nothing big, I need to leave this place and I can’t do it without magic that’s all.” Hekapoo said as if it was obvious, a crack and a low grunt of pain was heard as Janna held Marco even tighter. 

“Don’t worry girls, it’s true I woke up cranky but I have to say, that boy really left me satisfied, so no underhanded tricks.” Hekapoo said with a nice smile and a small blush. 

“So, we’ll be working together then?” Jackie extended her hand. 

“Yep.” Hekapoo shook the cop’s hand, a big groan was heard from Janna.

Sabrina looked hopeful and pleased, Chantelle and the mime shivered in anticipation of what would happen in the future, Brittney would never say it but she was actually relieved, Jackie was pleased...but Kelly ignored all the happenings looking at Marco with a mild guilty expression. 


	13. Chapter 13

The smell of food and the faint crackling of a campfire slowly rose Marco, the Latino had a great big headache and no desire to see light, with his eyes struggling to adapt to the new lightning, he finally was able to see where he was, under a tree resting on the lap of a certain green-haired woollett. 

“Kelly?” Marco said slowly, trying to melt the grogginess away. 

“Finally up?” Kelly said with a playful voice and a small giggle. 

Marco blushed and made a stunned face. 

“What?” Kelly got bashful and blushed. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen that adorable smile of yours.” Marco’s blush deepened and tried to reach for Kelly’s cheek but stopped himself halfway. 

“Marco? Are you o-.” Kelly became worried but Marco interrupted.

“Listen, Kell, I’m sorry, I’m very sorry, I’ve made so many mistakes now that it’s just become a habit and that stupid habit ran you over, every single glare and scowl, I deserve them, I absolutely deserve them and if you never want to forgive me it’s completely warranted, just understand that I will do my very best to try and earn that forgiveness from you.” Marco didn’t break eye contact for a second, despite his headache and a very tired visage, he had the most resolute look on his eyes the Kelly had ever seen. 

“Hehe, Oh Marco, what are you even apologizing for?” Kelly closed her eyes and had a cute smile for the Latino, he still hadn’t earned her trust back but he had done more than enough today, he showed Kelly that he was sincerely repentant and trying but as she opened her eyes she saw the knights panicked expression as he took a very deep breath. 

***With the rest of the team***

The whole team sans Kelly and Marco were sitting together on a circle some distance away from the pair, Nachos had taken to nussling Hekapoo relentlessly, an action that the horned woman didn’t seem to mind and Marcello was rubbing himself on Janna’s lap like an over-excited dog.

“Are you sure we should leave Kelly with him? I love her but she isn’t exactly fond of Marco right now.” Sabrina said worriedly to the impromptu leader of the group. 

“She is the only one that can cook that weird food we have and she insisted.” Jackie said with a shrug. 

“I insisted too!” Came the voice of a frustrated Janna. 

“And you would have raped him in his sleep, any other question?” Jackie gave the witch a defiant look. 

“What? It’s not like he didn’t do the same to me yesterday!” Janna defended herself, this little revelation made Hekapoo’s eyes snapped open as big as saucers but a single deadpanned comment made everyone stop and look at the commenter. 

“He didn’t.” Sabrina’s statement stunned everyone silent. 

“Wait...he didn’t? How do you know?” Janna asked confused, everyone else just looked expectantly.

“I had to inspect you and surprisingly, you even still have your hymen.” Sabrina once again deadpanned to everyone’s questioning gaze and Janna’s indignant gasp. 

“What the hell were you inspecting you freak!?” Janna said with a deep blush and took Marcello off her lap so she could cover her crotch, Sabrina shivered when she felt someone rubbing their cheek on her own. 

“You naughty, naughty girl Sabrina, you know Marco isn’t your territory for you to check if someone else is pissing on it.” Chantelle said with a blush and a look of delight. 

“I-I di-I didn’t do that for that reason! Janna, you had anemia! You know what that is, don't you!? A lack of red cells in the bloodstream! So if you had anemia your breath and heartbeat hike up to compensate the lack of oxygen, SO YOU HIKING IT UP AND DEPRIVING YOURSELF OF OXYGEN EVEN MORE BY INTERCOURSE WOULD BE A THE STUPIDEST IDEA YOU TWO COULD HAVE!!!” Sabrina ended her rant with a deep blush and panting with an intense glare directed at everyone. 

“Ok, ok, doc, we get it.” Jackie said with her hands up trying to calm the overexcited doctor. 

“Should we start with the plan?” Jackie said in a motherly tone to Sabrina who calmed her glare a bit and nodded. 

“Now Hekapoo, can you explain please?” Jackie gave the ok to the portal master who asked Nachos for a stick that the dragon gladly brought. 

“Ok so here is what happens.” Hekapoo started to draw something on the ground with the stick. 

“While it is true that when you flesh wads tear holes in dimensions like brutes does indeed make it random where you get spat out.” Hekapoo threw a look at Janna who just raised one eyebrow and drowned the “implying something bitch?” on her throat as she saw the other look she was receiving from Jackie. 

“It's not as random as you might think.” Hekapoo finished her drawing of a web. 

“Dimensions are like a web, a single point is connected to various others, when you do your flesh wad magic and open a portal, you can’t go to a dimension you aren’t connected to, that lowers your option pool from a couple billion to a few hundred.” Hekapoo explained. 

“Our objective is to go to our own dimension and knowing this means there is a path we need to take, so even if we could control in which dimension we end up on, we don’t know what fucking road leads us home.” Brittney said frustrated. 

“Do you know at least the path we need to take, Hekapoo?” Jackie said, giving some thought. 

“Of course I don’t.” Hekapoo said with a smug tone, everyone either groaned in frustration or panicked. 

“As I said, that is with your flesh wad magic, MY magic is completely different.” Hekapoo took out her scissors. 

“These babies are THE way to go through dimensions.” with the stick she drew a line going directly from a point in the web to a very distant one.

“You see, these things can transport you anywhere thanks to my handy work and a very special spell that basically connects every dimension to one another.” Hekapoo waggled her eyebrows and Jackie complied. 

“And this very special spell would be…?” Jackie awkwardly stammered. 

“ME!” Hekapoo said with an enormous smile. 

“So with me and these little ones, our little journey shouldn’t take all that much.” Hekapoo said, filled with pride. 

“Yes, because it worked so well a few hours ago.” Janna grumbled. 

“Yeah, sure, it probably was just because I was awakened recently, don’t get jealous flesh wad.” Hekapoo gave Janna a challenging and smug look. 

“First we return Kelly to her dimension, then you all go back home and then I take Marco for a few days as compensation, see? Easy!” Hekapoo said with her eyes closed as she used her scissors to open a portal...she just heard Janna snort. 

“What? Come on!” Hekapoo opened her eyes to NOT see an opened portal and snapped her fingers. 

“I’m already awake and filled with magic, it should work!” Hekapoo said, gesturing to Marcello and then at the empty space where the portal should have opened. 

“It sounds like you are actually filled with bull-.” Janna began but was stopped by a muffled scream. 

Running towards the noise they found Kelly and Marco on a deep kiss but the Latino was struggling under her with his arm outstretched begging for air. 

“What’s with you people and trying to deprive anemics of oxygen?!” Sabrina screamed and ran to separate the pair, once separated both parties looked scared and stunned. Kelly then took Sabrina by the shoulders. 

“You don’t understand Sab, I had to shut him up somehow, he was apologizing for EVERYTHING! He only stopped to take a breath like every 3 minutes…” Kelly’s pupils turned into pins as if she was reliving a traumatic experience. 

“HE WAS CITING SPECIFIC INSTANCES IN WHICH HE WAS HOLDING FARTS IN FRONT OF ME OR MY FAMILY!” Kelly shook Sabrina by the shoulders. 

“I’m sorry!” Marco screamed again, Kelly frowned and pointed at him. 

“Don’t you dare begin again!” Kelly threatened the knight who promptly did as he was told. 

“Wait! Marco is also anemic?” Jackie said carrying the man in question over her shoulder. 

“Yeah, he is actually in a worse state than Janna when we found her...I would blame the aggravation of his condition on all the screaming and actual blood loss but I don’t want to assume.” Sabrina shot Hekapoo a look.

“Whatever you say, he needed that more than oxygen, I would wager.” Hekapoo answered dismissively. 

“But what happened to make him anemic? It’s what I’m asking.” Jackie said getting Marco close to the now cooked food. 

“We saw what happened, Jackie, he was the one that revived Casper the furry ghost over there, Magic on that level is not good for your health...trust me, I would know.” Janna said in a solemn tone, everyone followed the mood until a grumble of a stomach was heard. 

“How ‘bout we just eat and think later.” Said Chantelle stretching, the mime nodding in agreement. 

“Ok...who feeds the convalescent?” Jackie said waggling Marco a bit. 

“I’ll go, I was the one that was supposed to do it anyways.” Kelly said now much calmer grabbing a plate full off of another pot. 

“Ok, then I suppose I don’t need to tell everyone else what to do?” Jackie said sitting down near the cooked food. 

“Nope.” Chantelle said, getting near the food herself. 

“I’ll sit over here with Marco.” Kelly said, taking Marco under the tree they were a moment ago. 

“Just feed him, please.” Sabrina said, giving Kelly a pleading look. 

“Yeah, yeah, but if he starts apologizing again, you are taking him off my hands, understood?” Kelly said in a mock authoritative voice to Sabrina who giggled and nodded.

Walking towards the tree Kelly had Marco on one shoulder and the food on the opposite hand once Kelly sat Marco on the tree the knight finally spoke up. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask, what did you guys feed Janna? We didn’t have that many options at the time.” Marco said lifting his head up for a spoonful. 

“Oh, the exact same thing I’m feeding you.” Kelly said in high spirits. 

“Which is?” Marco said with his mouth full, Kelly hit him over the head with the spoon. 

“Swallow first.” Kelly said with a laugh. 

“Sor-.” Marco began but stopped when he saw Kelly raising her brow. 

“What is this?” Marco said with an innocent smile to the smug Kelly. 

“It's the food you bought back in my dimension.” Kelly said giving another spoonful to Marco, the woollett noticed the confused look the Latino was giving the plate on her hand, she giggled a little. 

“Looks way different cooked, huh? This stuff expands a lot once cooked, the things you were popping in your mouths like popcorn were actually like a full meal each.” Kelly clanked her spoon against the plate.

“The salesman gave you the most nutrition-packed, least perishable, and cost-efficient food he could find.” Kelly fed Marco another spoonful and noticed the Latino tasting his food on a very thorough way all while sporting a very confused look. 

“Oh yeah, sadly cooking it turns it into the blandest food in my dimension but well...it still has all the other benefits, hehe.” Kelly kept feeding the Latino. 

“So is it rich on iron?” Marco said with a weak smile. 

“Rich? Dude, this beauty is iron coated in keratin.” Kelly said leaving the food on the floor to fluff her hair. 

“It’s hard for something in a woollett diet to NOT be rich on iron, so be still and finish this, it’s gonna get you on your feet in no time, just look at Janna.” Kelly said taking the food and resuming with the meal and Marco happily complied.

“Wait, so why did I have to...PAY...so much for that fancy meal back at your dimension, not to offend but those portions were tiny.” Marco said now a bit crossed. 

“Settle down cowboy, it’s because it was uncooked food with a fancy sauce, specifically a plateful of one of our tiniest foodstuffs when raw, in other words, you paid for about half a year worth of food… that we ate on a single meal.” Marco just stared at her in disbelief and said. 

“Well, it makes more sense than the fancy food in my dimension.” Both stared at each other's eyes with a small smile that devolved into laughter. 

Back with the rest of the group, all the girls were appalled as they saw Jackie finishing her third plate and starting to serve her fourth. 

“Hey vacuum cleaner, are you sure we are gonna have enough food with you around?” Brittney asked while pointing at Jackie, the cop had her cheeks completely puffed with food and swallowed it all in one go before responding. 

“Yeah, sure!” Jackie said with a cheery tone as she stuffed another spoonful to her mouth. 

“You sure, you don’t wanna eat lady Hekapoo?” Sabrina inquired with concern. 

“Just Hekapoo kid, and yes don’t worry, I don’t really need to eat, and considering the spectacle right in front of me, I don’t really want to either.” Hekapoo said staring at Jackie with a grimace.

“Don’t NEED to eat?” Sabrina was now both stunned and confused. 

“Never had experience with magical creatures have ya, missy?” Hekapoo gave a nice smile to Sabrina. 

“I’m not biological, I don’t have internal organs or anything, I live solely by magic.” Hekapoo shrugged. 

“Are you sure?” Sabrina squinted in her confusion. 

“Very, why all this concern kid?” Hekapoo asked the inquiring doctor. 

“Well, I’m not that well versed with magic but shouldn’t what you just said mean that you would disappear without magic? And well there is no surplus of magic anymore besides Marcello, who is also a magical creature and I’ve seen him eat plenty.” Sabrina said worriedly. 

“Heh, smart one, but if I’m still alive it means that I’m ok, I guess, I will just have to become best friends with that black unicorn, that by the way, it’s a very special case, he radiates magic, I siphon it.” Hekapoo gave a reassuring look to Sabrina and the doctor nodded, she was not all that convinced but she conceded anyway. 

***A few hours later***

The group had already packed everything and secured it inside Kelly’s hair, meanwhile Hekapoo, Janna and Jackie were having an important discussion. 

“I do not agree with this.” Janna said with arms crossed while glaring at Hekapoo. 

“I agree with that notion.” Hekapoo said in much the same state. 

“I did not ask, so either you two start working together in this or in building the house we are going to have to share in this dimension we are stranded on!” Jackie ordered standing firm with her arms crossed and both women started to protest and grumble. 

“This bitch can’t even open a portal, that’s all that I’ve been doing these past few days.” Janna grumbled. 

“Yeah! And you did such a great job, you were a step away from throwing them all off to nonexistence.” Hekapoo said.

“You are both completely right, both of you are useless on your own so you better kiss each other and makeup otherwise we are all FUCKED!” Jackie was still on a strong stoic pose, both women turned around grumbling in the downlow. 

“Fucking police training.” Janna said.

“I say yes to one request and suddenly they think they own me!” Hekapoo said. 

“Doc, please go with them.” Jackie said, still on the same stance. 

“What!? You want me between those two!?” Sabrina replied scared. 

“No, I NEED you between them, doc, you might be the difference between going back home and dying in a different dimension.” Jackie approached Sabrina and grabbed her softly by the shoulders, the apprentice witch swallowed a lump on her throat and nodded to join with the pair. 

Jackie saw this with a confident smile, a smile that was dampened a little when she saw Sabrina trip on her own two feet crashing into the ground only to hurriedly stumble to her feet to follow the magic duo once again. 

“We are fucking doomed.” Jackie jumped when she heard Chantelle behind her, she was as stoic as she remembered and besides her was a very unsure looking mime. 

“We have to try.” Jackie said with a defeated sigh. 

The three magic users were positioned in a line, Hekapoo with her scissors on the front, Sabrina kneeling with an open book in front of her at the back, and in the middle Janna riding in Marcello on his big form. 

All of them chanting a spell they opened a portal, Janna had a huge smile on her face and with a “There you go!” Everyone went for the portal. 

“STOP!” Hekapoo screamed and everyone complied. 

“That portal is just another random one, we need to use the power of these if we want to get anywhere near where we need to go.” Hekapoo said pointing at her scissors. 

“Then how about you carry your own damn weight!” Janna protested but Marco got between them. 

“Chill Janna, don’t worry, H-poo might still be a little out of it, let’s just try a bit more, ok?” Marco tried to downscale the situation but he somehow reached out to touch his bandaged shoulder when he said “H-poo” noticing this gesture he turned to the furry woman who winked at him making him blush, Janna didn’t like anything about this whole exchange. 

“All right yellow eyes! You’ll get all the juice you want, just make it work!” Janna said dismounting Marcello and touching Hekapoo’s shoulder, the magic marbles in between her fingers and her opposite hand touching Marcello’s chest. 

“How nice of you to finally accept who should be doing the work.” Hekapoo said in a haughty and condescending voice towards Janna. 

“Yeah, yeah, just fucking do it.” Janna said grinding her teeth, once again they chanted the spell, Janna’s eyes turned golden and the marbles on her hand began to glow, then Hekapoo slashed the air creating a tiny portal that collapsed into itself just as soon as it appeared. 

“Awesome scissors, oh great special spell!” Janna said annoyed “Hey, here is a thought, how about you let the one that CAN open portals, open the god damned portal!” Janna said, taking out Marco’s scissors from her pocket. 

“Again!?” Marco said in distress as he inspected his pocket. 

“You think you can do better than me flesh wad!?” Hekapoo said reading her scissors. 

“I’ve been doing MUCH better than you, furry ghost.” Said Janna reading Marco’s scissors in a similar way as the horned woman. 

Sabrina had given in to panic a while ago and just kept chanting the spell ignoring absolutely anything that wasn’t her chant, while Marcello was adoring the unfolding discord between Janna and Hekapoo. 

“You think we should stop them?” Said Chantelle as Janna’s eyes were turning pitch black, Hekapoo’s eyes were turning golden, Sabrina’s hair was softly levitating and Marcello was turning the floor around them into black mud. 

“You think we can stop them?” Jackie said in desperation. 

“Let’s try dumbass! I’m not going into some random place again!” Brittney screamed already running towards the zone of the confrontation. 

“WANNA GO, FLESH WAD!?” Screamed Hekapoo with a legion voice. 

“BRING IT!!!” Screamed Janna with a similar voice. 

Marco, Kelly, and Chantelle went to contain Marcello, the mime grabbed hold of Sabrina who would not stop chanting, Jackie was going after Janna, and Brittney was going after Hekapoo but the latter two couldn’t reach in time and both women swung at each other, the clash created a portal that sucked in all the people involved. 

***In the new dimension***

Everyone groaned awake, painfully and slowly Marco stood up. 

“Oh look, I know this place!” Marco said with a bit of hope. 

“Oh shit, I know this place.” Hekapoo said with dread. 

Around them was a plain that looked like Dali’s  _ “The Persistence of Memory”  _ but bluer. 

“How do you know about this place?” Jackie said standing up. 

“There was this one time that Star froze time to-.” Marco stopped mid memory when he saw Jackie’s curious face. 

“Well you know Star, she froze it for random stuff, ahahahahaa!” Marco said nervously. 

“Was trying to destroy everything just your weekend date night?” Hekapoo said exasperated. 

“Well, how do you know about this place?” Marco asked the demon looking woman. 

“Omnitraxus lived here remember? I’m not holding my breath on him being alive...but there is someone here that MIGHT be able to help.” Hekapoo said, not loving the prospect.

“You wouldn’t be talking about?” Marco said in disbelief. 

“Ok you two, I don’t like being left out and I don’t think the rest feel any better about this.” Janna said getting between them. 

“Sorry, we’ll go, just don’t step on the clo-.” Marco was interrupted by a shrill scream. 

“Holy shit! I forgot how good I looked at 14, not better but different perfection!” Brittney was standing on a clock floating down a river, she had turned back into her 14-year-old self complete with her old cheerleader outfit, she was looking at her reflection while making different poses. 

“What were you saying about her vanity?” Jackie whispered her question to Chantelle. 

“I said she was less vain, not humble.” Chantelle answered but the mime came in and gestured at the river, hurriedly going after the Asian woman. 

__

“Oh yeah, the river is carrying her away.” Chantelle said in a nonchalant way, after a beat everyone hurried after Brittney. 

Chantelle hopped into one of the clocks on the river and instantly turned 35 years old, she was wearing her usual work outfit: her mini skirt, black tights, and black suit and as an extra, there was a pearl necklace and earrings. 

“Are you kidding me?” Chantelle screamed at her reflection, she wasn’t referring to her barely-there wrinkles but to her now impossibly even more humongous derriere “There is a point where this is just overkill.”

“Take it as a blessing!” Screamed an irritated Kelly as she was floating down the river on another clock, she was 29, was wearing a hot pink one-piece dress with white dots, and had grown the astounding amount of about 3 inches with no development in any other area as her body still had the curves of an 11-year-old. 

“AAAahhahahahah! Plank grandma and bloated grandma!” Came the voice of a 10-year-old Janna, she barely reached the hips of Chantelle and the secretary was short to begin with, Janna was wearing a pair of overalls over a pink shirt with flowers, her usual beanie, her hair was fashioned on a pair of pigtails and of course, she was missing all her piercings and tattoos. 

“Shut up brat!” Screamed both Chantelle and Kelly. 

“This is quite surprising!” Came a low husky voice and in came a 40-year-old Jackie floating down the river, she was in her full cop uniform with a pair of aviator shades, she was muscly, had multiple scars on her face, and was sporting a military haircut. 

“The childbearing hips really don’t mesh well with this look either.” she turned to see Chantelle, Brittney, Janna, and Kelly staring at her with surprised eyes. 

“Yeah, I didn’t imagine this either.” Jackie said bashfully. 

“ISH THISH A FUCKING JOKE!?” Came a 70-year-old Hekapoo, she was wearing a dress very similar as the one she had but this one covered her shoulders and it was a darker yellow, she had thick glasses with a strand to keep them from damaging if they fell, she also had a small hand knitted cape for the cold, she was hunch backed and her hair was made into an enormous braid.

“I’m a magic creature, I’m not shuposhed to age!” The very pissed grandma screamed Janna for her part was rolling with laughter on her clock. 

“If you saw what happens on the cwocks why did you stepped on them anywhays!” Came the voice of an about 3-year-old Marco on a clock along with a similarly aged whimpering Sabrina, he was wearing a blue onesie while she was wearing a yellow one. 

“Also, hwelp us we cwuan’t swim!” Marco swung his arms in a panic and Sabrina started to bawl. 

“Awwwww!” Every woman fawned at the babies but the one that saved them was the mime girl swimming on the river taking the babies and the elderly to shore and as they hit the shore everyone returned to their original age. 

“What the fuck was that? I don’t fucking age!” Hekapoo was still grumpy about that. 

“We heard you the first time.” Janna and Brittney said exasperatedly. 

“Hey mime, thank you for that.” Sabrina said as she, Chantelle, Kelly, and Jackie approached her, but the mime was kneeling with her back turned to them, she just gave a thumbs up and hid her front from them. 

“You ok?” Jackie tried to get near the mime but Marco got in the way. 

“She is ok, she is just reapplying her makeup, she is sensitive about it.” Marco said, taking the little group away from the mime that signaled a thank you towards Marco. 

“Really? Have you ever seen under the makeup?” Kelly asks, trying to peek at the mime. 

“Never and never will if she doesn’t want to.” Marco said, blocking Kelly’s view but the mime was finished with her makeup by that point anyway and returned with the group her normal peppy self. 

“Hey, guys check it out!” The excited voice of Janna was heard in the distance and everyone followed. 

Janna, Brittney, and Hekapoo were in front of an enormous entrance to a place filled with screens that were currently displaying innumerable historical events from various dimensions at the same time. 

“Isn’t this awesome?” Janna stepped forward. 

“Wait, Janna!” Marco tried to stop her but she was already inside. 

A mechanical tentacle with an eye on it’s end appeared out of the shadows of the seemingly endless ceiling of that place, the eye inspected Janna carefully and all the screens became different moments on the life of Janna Ordonia from kinder to middle school, there were various screens that depicted her breaking into Marco’s room, various others depicting her stealing from him, a great big number of them showed her stalking him from afar and a few of them where her doing her occult stuff. 

“There is...a lot of Marco in those.” Said an awkward Jackie, nobody else wanted to comment. 

“I would say no more than 75% and no less than 70% of these things will have Marco in it, let’s just wing it out of here unless someone else wants to take the spotlight?” Janna tore her eyes from the screens to look behind her to see nobody there anymore. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Janna said leaving the place as fast as her legs could take her. 

A few minutes passed where they continued walking trying to find that someone that Hekapoo was talking about but Hekapoo started to slow her pace and Sabrina kept herself near the redhead. 

“Hey Hekapoo, does that “not having organs” include things like the brain, heart...lungs?” Sabrina asked. 

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t.” Hekapoo said annoyed, she was getting quite sick of this line of questioning. 

“I see.” Sabrina just kept pace with the magical creature. 

Everyone came to a stop when they saw a giant, blue, bearded man running on a hamster wheel. 

“Is that the guy?” Asked Jackie, looking behind her surprised when she saw just how far behind Hekapoo and Sabrina where. 

“Yeah! That’s him!” Hekapoo screamed to be heard from over there. 

Everyone turned to see the giant man but noticed Marco had already gone ahead to greet the guy. 

“Father Time! How are you!? Remember me?” Marco said with enthusiasm. 

“Oh! Kiddo! How have you been? Me? I’m doing great!” He said still running on the wheel. 

“Really? How are the time hamsters? Why go back to spin the wheel yourself?” Marco interrogated and Father Time seemed a little embarrassed. 

“The hamsters are ok kid, look!” Father Time pointed at a bunch of hamsters frolicking on a great big pool of mud but the hamsters were dispersed as Nachos and Marcello started chasing them around. 

“Hey! Get those things off my babies!” Father Time demanded Marco and the knight whistled, making both beasts come running towards him. 

“They were just playing, they would never harm them.” Marco said bashfully but got a concerned face immediately after “But now, why are you running on the wheel again?”

“Well...remember when I told you time was a bit fragile?” The blue man began with his meek explanation, Marco began with a judgemental “uhuhhh.”

“So...you see, maybe taking that little vacation migh-.” The man was interrupted by Hekapoo screaming. 

“Is that what happened? You were being a lazy old man and left your responsibilities!?” Father Time did something that Marco couldn’t believe he was capable of, he scowled. 

“My boy, did you hear a little annoying voice?” Father Time said, his scowl deepened. 

“No, fuck you, uncle, you are not playing the “you don’t exist” game anymore, you did it to Omnitraxus his whole fucking life, but guess what? Even dad is dead right now, there is no one to be a rival with, there is no one “making fun of you” so please just listen to me for once!” Hekapoo got a bit emotional with her rant, Marco just turned to the man on the hamster wheel. 

“Uncle? Dad?” Marco squeaked out in utter confusion and Father Time sighed. 

“Yeah boy, you had dealings with Glossaryck didn’t you? Don’t you see the family resemblance?” The blue man gestured to himself. 

“Glossaryck is your dad!?” Marco screamed in surprise to Hekapoo. 

“Ugh! Don’t remind me.” Hekapoo crossed her arms and sat on the floor. 

“You see boy, it is Glossaryck of magic, me of time and Pactli of space, we are the three basic building blocks of all existence...and that big jerk Glossaryck one day decided to make a few magical creatures just to make fun of us.” Father Timed seemed really crossed. 

“That Omnitraxus and the girl over there were the most insulting, Glossaryck was all like “Oooh look, these two, they make your job but better and then some.” what do this whole multi timelines stuff even do without the passage of time anyway?” Father Time went a bit off the rails. 

“And she was meant as a mockery of Pactli by tearing space and jumping from one place to another.” He continued as he pointed at Hekapoo without even turning to look at her. 

“As I said, uncle, there is nobody left to “make fun” of you, so please, we need help!” Hekapoo pleaded. 

“I can’t make portals anymore and ever since I came back from the destruction of magic I’ve felt weak, I’m not a menace, I’m no longer an affront to you or uncle Pactli, is that enough to get YOUR help?!” Hekapoo got through Father Time a bit because the blue man turned to see her with a remorseful expression but when he saw his niece he got scared enough to trip on his wheel. 

“Holy Moly!” The blue giant fumbled inside the wheel a bit before stabilizing himself. 

“Wow! You weren’t kidding when you said that there was nobody left to make fun of me.” Father Time said going back to being meek. 

“What does that mean?” Hekapoo said now annoyed that she had to spill her guts to get the old man to cooperate. 

“You haven’t noticed?” The blue man said with confusion. 

“Notice what? I swear old man if this is some sort of sick way of getting pay ba-.” Hekapoo was ready to go ballistic until she felt a hand holding hers, then that hand forced two of her own fingers into her own throat. 

“Can you feel it?” Came the soft, concerned voice of Sabrina, Hekapoo could feel something, like if a small marble barely bigger than a grain of salt was passing constantly from under her skin, when she gave no response the doctor continued. 

“That’s your heartbeat.” Sabrina said matter of factly but Hekapoo just stood there stupefied for a few seconds before some interjected. 

“Yeah...umm...congratulations on becoming mortal?” Father Time said with an awkward tone, Hekapoo’s visible eye went as wide as it could, her pupil turning as small as a pin. 

“What was that?” Hekapoo said in disbelief. 

“Hekapoo, I don’t know if you noticed but when we arrived here you had been panting and holding your belly, you are tired and hungry, you need lungs for them to need air and you need a stomach for it to be empty, also I don’t think I need to show you your heartbeat again, so let’s just get you some food, please even if you still are a magical creature I can see you need it.” Sabrina said in the most compassionate and warm voice she could muster. 

“NO! I will NOT! I’m the master of portals! I’m a magical creature! I was a member of the Magic High Commission! I AM NOT A FLESH WAD!!!” Hekapoo screamed. 

“Niece, your flame is dead.” Father Time remarked with a neutral voice but that seemed to do the trick, Hekapoo grabbed around on the empty space between her horns. 

“Maybe I just need more magic for it to appe-.” Hekapoo said with subtle desperation in her voice. 

“Hekapoo, the flame has been gone since you woke up and that didn’t change when you were in direct contact with Marcello.” Marco said concerned, Hekapoo turned to him with big wet eyes...but that scared and sad look turned into a completely livid one on a dime. 

“What the fuck did you do?” Hekapoo screamed at the knight and tackled him. 

“Whoa!” Marco evaded Hekapoo and ran towards Kelly “Kelly, Please, Your hair!”. 

Kelly undid her hair letting it fall all over her and Marco threw himself at it, Hekapoo following close behind.

“...Oooook.” Jackie said as she saw Kelly’s hair move as if it had a mind of its own. 

“So, can we get some tips about getting back home? We’ll get those two up to speed later.” Jackie asked the blue man that didn’t stop running on the wheel. 

“Yeah, you sure those two are ok?” Father Time asked with concern. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” A muffled scream was heard from Kelly’s hair. 

“They are doing gangbusters!” Jackie said flashing the ok sign, the blue man sighed. 

“Ok, I feel I owe it to the kid after this.” Said Father Time a bit downcast. 

“YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!” Hekapoo's muffled voice.

“Then the first question, is there any way we can control where we go with portals?” Jackie said. 

“Yeah, the scissors that Hekapoo uses.” Father Time answered. 

“You kidding? Those things didn’t work at all!” Janna screamed just a bit stronger than the ruckus in Kelly’s hair. 

“Yeah no kidding, Hekapoo is no longer capable of using them the way she used to with the gateways back to the way they should be, but they are still great tools if you don’t try to...you know, break the things that should not be broken.” Father Time said as a suggestion. 

“So if we use them to jump into the dimensions connected to the one we are in it works aces.” Jackie followed and the blue man responded with an “Exactly”. 

“But here is the big question then, HOW THE FUCK WE KNOW WHERE TO GO?” Brittney pushed Jackie off to stand in front of Father Time. 

“That’s a good question.” Father Time started to rub his chin in a pensive way, every one began to feel dejected. 

“What dimension are you from?” The blue man asked, still deep in thought. 

“The earth sir...it recently got merged with Mewni.” Jackie said and that lit up the blue runner's face. 

“Mewni! Why didn’t you say so!? Hamsy!!!” Father time screamed and a giant hamster with a clock necklace and a backpack came running.

“There was a Mewni queen that really liked to know how things worked, she made so many things that she left some with me.” The blue old man said with excitement. 

“Including a map of the dimensions around Mewnie!” The team promptly inspected the hamster’s backpack and indeed found a journal with the first spread being a drawing of a web and each node of it had an indication of a page. 

“Let’s check the middle one then.” came the voice of Janna. 

“Ok, middle...page 3...Mewni!” Jackie turned the pages and found a small description of Mewni. 

“Let’s check the one that was closest to it on the web!” Chantelle said with urgency. 

“Ok...page 81...Guys, this is weird.” In the journal pages was a description of the colonial United States. 

“YES! WE HAVE A PATH, WE CAN GO HOME!!!” Brittney screamed at the sky while kneeled, the team hurried inside Kelly’s hair to inform the clashing duo if they were finished and separate them if they hadn’t. 

Everyone blushed when they entered, they found the place trashed and in the middle of the mess was a sitting Marco with Hekapoo sitting on his lap and a plate on hand, both were injured with scrapes, small bruises, and equally small cuts. 

“So this is my blood?” Said Hekapoo inspecting her fingers tinted red, her eyes clearly showed that she had been crying. 

“That’s right, here, have another bite.” Marco got what looked like a sandwich near Hekapoo and she took a bite. 

“This  _ Nerve endings _ are a fucking bitch, why the hell you guys have something to make you feel pain better?” Hekapoo said massaging her right hand. 

“But I’ll admit, food tastes a million times better now.” The horned woman said with weary happiness. 

“That’s because you were starving yourself.” Came the unimpressed voice of Sabrina. 

“And don’t worry about those nerve endings, there are  **_Nice_ ** ways of using them.” Came the slow and sultry voice of Chantelle. 

Hekapoo shrieked, slapped Marco, and jumped off of his lap as if he was a bed of red hot coals, the portal master looked at the team as if she was a trapped animal. 

“Don’t try to act coy, we saw all of it!” Came the annoyed voice of Janna. 

“Guess what Portal Master, we’ve got good news!” Jackie said with an enormous smile. 

* **Outside Kelly’s hair***

“So are they ok?” Father Time asked to the mound of hair. 

“Yeah, actually, I think they are about to-.” Before Kelly could finish her sentence everyone came out of her. 

“Hey niece, how are you feeling?” Father Time asked awkwardly. 

“Could be better.” Hekapoo said offhandedly. 

“So it was you who messed up the time in my dimension?” Hekapoo asked. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry, it was the first vacation I’ve ever had, I’m working on fixing it though.” Father Time answered as truthfully as he could. 

“Wait, the stuff with your dimension wasn’t natural?” Marco was surprised. 

“Nope, one day the time in there was just messed up.” Hekapoo answered in a nonchalant way. 

“Yeah, well, this wheel right here, it’s not here because the view is killer, it’s here because these planes are in the very center of all dimensions and this place specifically is in the middle of these planes.” The blue man explained. 

“So when I took that trip with the wheel as I got closer to one dimension and further from others, time that was supposed to be synchronized through all dimensions became total chaos, don’t worry I’m working on putting it all back together and I promise Only one vacation per millennia and short brakes with the help of the hamsters.” Said Father Time. 

“Ok, since that is fixed, how do we get here?” Hekapoo pointed at the web map. 

“We are nowhere near any of these dimensions.” Groans of exasperation sounded like an orchestra. 

“Oh! Take this as my  _ I’m sorry  _ gift.” Father Time snapped his fingers and a portal opened, everyone stared at it in surprise. 

“What? I’m Glossaryck big brother, of course, I can do this...but my reach will only get you to one of the edges of the map.” Father Time seemed a bit down. 

“This is plenty sir! Thank you for your hard work!” Jackie said elated while saluting the runner on the wheel as the rest of the team ran towards the portal. 

“Niece, before you go!” The blue man said. 

“Sorry, it took...this...happening to you for me to give it a try, if your now limited life span permits it, please don’t hesitate to visit.” Father Time said trying to sound comforting. 

“Thanks for reminding me of that.” Hekapoo said in a playful, sarcastic way. 

“When I see Omnitraxus again I’ll be sure to at least give him a hello!” Father Time said waving at his niece. 

“He died along with magic old man, you really are senile.” Hekapoo said stepping into the portal. 

“If Magic were indeed completely destroyed, then there would be no universe left to speak of, I’ll see him again eventually.” Father Time said as if it was obvious, Hekapoo turned around to question further but she had already stepped into the closing portal. 

***On the new dimension***

Hekapoo entered the portal and saw Marco fighting a warrior, while the rest of the team was debating if joining in or not. 

“What happened?” Asked Hekapoo as she got near. 

“We entered this dimension, immediately that girl started attacking Marco and the dumbass told us not to interfere so it’s probably personal.” Jackie said at the newcomer. 

Marco kicked the tall figure off of him and the woman landed on her feet, she had long orange hair on a ponytail, sported leather armor with a sword on her hips, her face was sprinkled with freckles and her green eyes had a piercing glare on them. 

“Higgs!” Marco hissed the name with spite as Greedy Heart appeared on his chest. 

  
_ “BITCH!!!”  _ Exclaimed the cursed organ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dang, this one has been the hardest chapter to write, I couldn’t figure out how to make the talk with father time sound natural, and especially, I’ve made it my mission not to leave any character on the wayside, pretty hard since I’ve planned a 10 person main cast since the beginning and also added the 2 animal companions, I panicked looking at this chapter trying desperately to see if I had forgotten a character on a scene or something, hope it never happens. 
> 
> Second, I’m feeling bad for Jackie, she is so mature and chill and BORING, I don’t know how to put her in most scenes I’m writing, at the beginning when she was the only one I could use her no problem but now she is lost on a sea of personalities more interesting than she is D: and I don’t want to do her dirty. 
> 
> It appears to be a book about SVTFOE that has a lot of information about the show that was never used on it, maybe I’ll take a glance someday but please note that most of my research for this fic comes from my memories of the show and tv tropes so there might be stuff here that contradicts the book entirely and I would probably be none the wiser. 
> 
> Pactli is a reference to the Aztec myth of Xipactli (Cipactli) that the earth is actually a giant all-devouring crocodile that used to eat anything the gods created until they got tired and choke it to death and used it’s carcass as the base for all creation (Hence why I used him as the personification of space) the dude is supposedly not dead and he is also one of the myths that justified human sacrifice to the ancient cultures in prehispanic America, since the thing still gets hungry they had to feed it so it didn’t wake up completely and saw a billion tasty morsels partying on its back. My Pactli is nothing like that and probably will never have a major role in the story, I just put it there since I felt weird having a personification of energy (magic) and time but not space. 
> 
> Other than that I’ll leave you with a scene I couldn’t squeeze into the chapter but I thought it was funny, thanks for your time and patience anyone who has read up to this point. 
> 
> *Hekapoo with the magic high commission after discovering her dimension’s fucked up time* 
> 
> Rhombulus, Lekmet, and Omnitraxus were sitting at the table in the office of the magic high commission staring at an open orange portal when Hekapoo peeked her upper half off of it. 
> 
> “35 years.” Hekapoo said. 
> 
> “17 minutes 30 seconds.” Rhombulus answered and Hekapoo dove inside the portal again. 
> 
> “4 months.” Hekapoo peeked out of the portal.
> 
> “10 seconds.” Omnitraxus responded and Hekapoo dove again. 
> 
> “An eon!” Hekapoo burst out completely off the portal. 
> 
> “Baaaa!” Leckmet answered and Hekapoo ran towards the portal but before she could reach it another Hekapoo burst off of it. 
> 
> “5 secon- Holy!” The first Hekapoo stared at the second one for a few seconds before slowly walking to the portal without breaking eye contact with her other self, once the first Hekapoo crossed the portal the second one closed it promptly. 
> 
> “Let’s not play with that again.” Hekapoo said in a matter of fact voice. 
> 
> “Yeah, let’s Not!” Rhombulus.
> 
> “Agreed.” Omnitraxus. 
> 
> “Baaaa!” Lekmet.


	14. Chapter 14

The portal dropped them into a forest, everyone was in high spirits having finally found a light at the end of this tunnel.

Marco took a deep breath, taking in the atmosphere and his newfound hope but there was something he couldn’t shake about this place. 

_ “Oi! Kiddo, this place feels...familiar, don’t you think?”  _ Greedy Heart said legitimately intrigued. 

Marco took the comment to heart, this place felt very familiar, the foliage, the fauna, it was on the tip of his tongue, everything felt so typical and despite how very obviously hostile everything was...it felt almost welcoming to him. 

Taking some steps to inspect this new place further Marco was led away from the group, not noticing a shadowy figure stalking him from the trees. 

Marco kneeled in front of a rock, on top of the said stone was an also familiar kind of fairy that the Latino kneeled to observe closely, Marco’s memory was juggled by this… he could swear it was a bug but a big shout caught him mid realization. 

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, FAKE KNIGHT!?” The shadowy figure pounced on the unsuspecting knight from the trees but he evaded it. 

Jumping to his side, Marco noticed his assailant, a woman, she looked around her late 40’s, her body was incredibly burly, her long orange hair had a noticeable amount of grey hairs, and was tied on a ponytail, and her face was adorned by a multitude of freckles, soft wrinkles and a pair of squinting jade eyes. 

_ “No! NONONONONONO! Not that bitch! Why the fuck that bitch!? I WANNA MURDER THAT BITCH!”  _ Greedy Heart went on a frenzy. 

The woman unsheathed her sword from her hip and lunged at the Latino. 

“Marco!” Came the voice of Jackie running towards the confrontation along with the rest of the team sans Hekapoo. 

“Do not take another step! This is my duel!” Marco didn’t know if it was Greedy Heart convincing him yet again or his own pride that somehow made him use his leader knight voice on the girls and throw himself at an armed opponent, disarmed...Whatever the reason was he was sure this was one of his stupidest decisions. 

“This is your doing, fake knight, what underhanded trick did you use!?” The woman threw a barrage of slashes that Marco kept his distance from, keeping his pace going backward to never be on the reach of that sword. 

“Underhanded!? Me!? Hello kettle, I’m pot, did you notice you are black?” Said Marco still evading the sword until his back hit a tree. 

Finally on range, the woman tried to stab at Marco’s neck but he managed to duck under it, the sword struck the trunk and ended up stuck, and the woman earned herself a kick on the stomach making her stagger backward a bit, giving Marco enough time to take his distance once again but on his attempt to escape the woman was able to throw herself at him, tackling him to the ground. 

“What is going on?” Marco heard Hekapoo’s voice approaching, to which Jackie answered something about this being personal to him. 

Marco used all his strength to kick the ginormous woman off of him, face to face with his attacker, she glared at him. Since the moment he recognized her a word has been boiling inside Marco’s stomach, he wanted to scream it at her face but he had more class than that. 

“Higgs.” Marco spat the name with as much spite he could muster but his chest lit up and the knight just knew what was about to happen. 

_ “BITCH!!!”  _ Of course, Greedy Heart just screamed what Marco didn’t want to say. 

Everyone was stunned, they had all seen the cursed heart, and not once has the thing been openly antagonistic to anyone that wasn’t Marco, much less to a member of the opposite sex. 

“Is that what happened? You got cursed and now everyone must suffer like you? Fake knight!?” Higgs screamed and went for the Latino again but was stopped by a petite, big hipped woman who grabbed the redhead by her leather armor and threw her to the ground making Higgs fall with both of their weights on top. 

Marco didn’t even see the exchange as a fist just suddenly appeared on his field of view when he was focused on Higgs and the force of the blow threw him to the ground. 

“What the hell!?” Marco said as he saw his other attacker, Jackie, she was cracking her knuckles and looking down on him with a glare. 

“I’m gonna know what’s going on even if I have to break up your dumb little lover’s quarrel.” Jackie said low and menacingly. 

_ “The only relationship I and that unhinged bitch ever had is of animosity! So take that stupid comment and-!”  _ Greedy Heart was silenced by a punch from his host. 

“We were never on good terms.” Marco said matter of factly and turned to see the redhead being dominated by the much shorter Chantelle. 

“Sorry about this ma’am but you are exactly the kind of person I’ve trained to beat.” Chantelle laughed as Higgs struggled under her hold, Chatelle had Higgs’ arm on hold, her generous behind was sitting on the red head’s head and her legs were holding the opposite arm. 

“Come on ma’am no hold is unbreakable...if you are smart about it~.” Chantelle said with a sing-song voice and topped the comment off with joyful giggles while Higgs was screaming and thrashing as violently as possible. 

“That’s right ma’am, tire yourself out, make my job easier.” Chantelle was grappling Higgs to submission with gusto, Marco watched the scene unfold in awe, he finally noticed Chantelle’s toned back, shoulders, and arms and the fact that she was wrestling Higgs specifically to the ground, to Marco, this was... 

_ “Chantelle! You’re hot as hell!”  _ While the Latino was distracted his heart hooted as loudly as it could to the short judoka. 

“I know!” Chantelle flashed a winning smile but she started to feel the woman buff up under her and caused her focus to lapse, using this as an opportunity Higgs shook Chantelle off of her. 

When she stood up, everyone noticed, her wrinkles were softer barely even there, her muscles bulkier, her hair silkier and more lustrous, and she even looked a bit taller, she had noticeably de-aged to her early 40’s but at that little show all the girls decided that listening to Marco was not a priority and they surrounded the now a bit younger woman. 

“Now  **I** need an explanation, failed knight.” Marco said filling the circle around Higgs who groaned and fell to her knees. 

“It was your doing, wasn’t it? It must be! I clearly remember my death bed! Then I suddenly wake up, the sun is rising and setting backward, I’m literally growing younger and nobody remembers who I am! I lived my whole life here and I lived it with them for fuck sakes!” Higgs was clearly distraught, curling into a ball on the floor but then she turned to Marco with a glare. 

“And then you come along, you still remember me, you are cursed, I know the princess can do magic and somehow you nepotism your way to be the leader of the knights!” Higgs pointed at the coat of arms on Marco’s hoodie. 

“So I just know! Is this some horrible way of getting back at me!? I won’t take it lying down and you know it!” Higgs stood up and poised herself for combat, some tears leaking from her eyes. 

“I didn’t do anything!” Marco’s voice cracked harder than nuts under a steam roller, this gave Higgs pause drying her tears immediately. 

“You look too old for your voice to be cracking like that!” Higgs gave a snort. 

_ “Don’t you dare make me agree with you!”  _ Screamed an outraged Greedy Heart. 

“Nobody asked you to!” Higgs said glaring directly at Marco’s neon purple chest. 

“Hey, grandma!” Came a voice that Higgs recognized, her pupils turned to pins and hurriedly turned to the voice. 

“Lady Hekapoo!” Higgs sounded panicked and scrambled to kneel. 

“What’s up with you fake knight!? You are in front of a member of the magic high commission and the strongest being in this dimension! I knew you were no knight, but I never took you as a disrespectful brat!” Higgs glared at Marco and screamed every word with rage. 

“I’m no longer either of those things and he is an old friend.” Hekapoo said, oozing smugness from her expression to her body language, Higgs’s eyes widened, she turned to look at Marco to whisper. 

“You even cozied up to the MHC, I don’t know if I want to be outraged or impressed.” Higgs pretty much spat. 

“It’s called connections you…” Marco grumbled before shutting up. 

_ “Dumb bitch!”  _ Greedy Heart finished for him, Higgs didn’t even seem to hear those words and turned to Hekapoo with concern. 

“Lady Hekapoo, what do you mean, you are no longer a member of the high commission or the most powerful being on dimension X-103?” Higgs asked with big puppy dog eyes. 

“You must have been out of it for a while, huh? Magic is no more so is the commission and the second one is a new development but…” Hekapoo showed her still-fresh wounds “I’m not a magical creature either.” Higgs was overwhelmed. 

“Wait! No magic?! Then what is going on?! I was actually dead and now I’m getting younger, what is that if it’s not magic?!” Everyone started to ponder the question, Sabrina going as far as to open her magic book to check. 

“Come on guys, we were just told what is going on.” Hekapoo said with some exasperation at seeing everyone wrecking their brains over the question, with a sigh and a little slap to her own forehead the fiery red-head continued. 

“Uncle is fixing the weird time fluxes he caused, this dimension was one of the most affected, so uncle’s fix? Hit the reset button.” Hekapoo said as if it was obvious. 

“So let’s just run, who knows what staying in this place that is going back thousands of years might do to us, my guess? Turn us back to non-existence.” Hekapoo said as she took out her scissors and swung to open a portal...to fail. 

“What!?” Was Hekapoo scream of surprise and unsurprisingly came the vociferous laugh of Janna. 

“Ok, ok, here yellow eyes, I will do this for poor little FLESH WAD you.” Janna took Marco’s scissors on her hands and Hekapoo turned outraged to the Latino. 

“YOU ARE JUST GONNA LET HER DO THAT!?” Marco gave a resigned look and said with a shrug. 

“No matter what I think or feel about this, here is an unchangeable truth...what’s mine…*sigh* it’s Janna’s.” Janna turned to waggle her eyebrows at Hekapoo. 

“So now see the difference between a newborn and a pro, ok yellow eyes?” Janna swung to cut a portal...to fail. 

“WHAT THE HELL!?” Came Janna’s confused scream. 

“We were told how to use these things properly, are they just defective!?” Janna glared at Hekapoo. 

“Watch your fucking mouth 3rd rate magician! My work is flawless! Those things are equipped with the spell to break tear reality like a hot knife through butter! These runes are…are.” Hekapoo showed her scissors specifically her name engraved on one of the blades. 

Hekapoo observed her scissors in detail, the engravings with special care, she then turned to Janna and snatched Marco’s scissors from her hands with the speed of an attacking snake. 

“Hey get your own yellow eyes!” Janna screamed outraged. 

“How the hell did I forget about this?” Hekapoo said exasperated and showed the engravings of her and Marco’s name on the scissors both of them were starting to softly glow with blue light. 

“These things are magic fueled, with no surplus of magic they need time to recharge off of that hyperactive unicorn, in other words, these things need a refractory period!” Hekapoo said with frustration. 

“Refractory periods are important.” Chantelle chimed in with a soft and concerned voice. 

“You, mediocre magician! Keep these two as close as you can to that unicorn, if it would help make the scissors recharge faster make it piss on them or something.” Hekapoo said handing the scissors to Janna while Marcello was peeking his head out of Janna’s beanie with an excited look on his face. 

“You heard the shorty over there, keep them close, fill them up with as much juice as possible.” Janna said, taking off her beanie and putting the scissors on Marcello’s snout before putting on the beanie again. 

“I’ll forget about the shorty comment, we need to run as fast as we can, you are coming with us too, grandma.” Hekapoo turned to Higgs, who was not there anymore. 

“She left a while ago.” Kelly said, looking a little guilty. 

***With Higgs***

The dropout knight ran at her full speed through the forest, putting as much strain on her late 30’s body as possible. 

**_“Brunzetta, what do you mean!? We’ve quested together for years! What is going on?” Higgs said dodging an ax swing from a burly woman, with black skin and dreadlocks._ **

**_“You were in the cave with all the treasure, I won’t let you take a single piece off of my loot, you thief.”_** **_Brunzetta said, attacking the woman that was around her 50’s._**

**_“I died in this cave! On a quest with you! I died on the loot! Why don’t you remember?!” Higgs begged._ **

**_“More lies!” Brunzetta gave an especially strong swing that the older woman barely evaded, her body was tired and her joints were locking up, giving her best she ran to the exit only to notice her body felt just a little bit lighter than a few seconds before._ **

**_Brunzetta allowed her to leave as she was there for the treasure on the cave not to hunt thieves and Higgs noticed her hands were much smoother as she ran towards the forest outside than when she woke up._ **

“If time is really flowing in reverse, then those three, those three might…” Higgs said to herself as she ran. 

***With Marco and the group***

_ “Why do we have to save that bitch!!! I never agreed to this!!!”  _ Greedy Heart screamed as the group ran following the flying Nachos with Sabrina and Mime as her raiders. 

“Nobody asked for your opinion!” Marco screamed. 

_ “You don’t want to either, don’t act like a goody-two-shoes.”  _ Said Greedy Heart. 

“Of course I don’t want to but it’s the right thing to do! Now shut up! I need to save my breath!” Marco said with a scowl. 

“Why *pant* can’t I *pant* use Marcello.” Came the voice of an exhausted Janna. 

“Marcello has a bigger fish to fry! And you need the exercise!” Said Jackie running in front of her. 

The group ran towards a clearing in the forest where Higgs was now about 35 years old and happily hugging a trio, a small old guy, a crocodile man and a man who towered above everyone present, the happy reunion was being done in front of 3 graves. 

“You just woke up didn’t you? Trio of dumbasses!” Higgs was happily screaming at the trio. 

“Sorry Higgs, for leaving you alone.” came the slow voice of Bigman. 

“I’m sure you had lots of fun didn’t you?” Was the voice of Crocodile knight. 

“I’m still too old.” came the voice of Old guy. 

“Great, great, everyone hugged, everyone cried and now everyone jumps ship before we get erased from the flow of time!” Came the condescending voice of Hekapoo. 

“Lady Hekapoo!” the newly awakened trio got on their knees fast. 

“Don’t even bother! She is just another one of the bunch now.” Said Higgs with a bit of spite now in her early 30’s, this appeared to be her peak as she was at her biggest. 

“Lost all the respect for me just like that huh?” Hekapoo said with a bit of contempt. 

“Ok, anyways, the scissors are not fully charged but with the two of them together it might open a portal, now that we are in a hurry.” Hekapoo said without much emotion in her voice. 

“I refuse!” Higgs said with a firm voice. 

“We agree!” Came the voice of the trio. 

“What!?” Hekapoo said, genuinely surprised. 

“No matter what happens this is our home, we are staying here, we chose to die here once...we will do it twice.” Said Higgs. 

“Look, the whole lot of you are in imminent danger, maybe a fate worse than death, we can even take you back to this dimension once we are safe, just come with us.” Jackie pleaded to the revived warriors. 

“We will not, Higgs already told us what happened, if we do that the time we enter this place again we might as well enter a new dimension, We will stay here.” Said Crocodile knight. 

“I can’t run.” Said Old guy standing up using a spear as a walking stick.

“So we will fight if it is needed!” Said Bigman trying to sound as menacing as he could, holding a mallet. 

“You heard them! We are leaving them here!” Said Janna with a happy tone. 

“NO!” Marco screamed at the top of his lungs. 

“I’m the leader of the knights, I brought them here, THESE GUYS ARE MY RESPONSIBILITY!” Screamed Marco getting on a fighting stance. 

“I came to this dimension specifically because I couldn’t stand your fucking face! Hell! Kicking your face in being the last thing I do just sounds like the best outcome possible!” Higgs said going in to attack the latino. 

Marco was able to catch Higgs’s fist and managed to throw her but she landed on her feet and Marco had to let go of her wrist to avoid a mallet that was approaching his face. 

“No worries Marco, we got used to this place, we are pleased with the life we lead!” Said a happy Bigman. 

Marco had to dodge a spear that was a little too close for comfort to his eye, he had to dodge another 3 stabs to his head and decided that taking more space was a better idea as he jumped backward.

“I’m old, too old to hold any sort of grudge, especially to something that led to the best years of my life, my boy, we are actually thankful for the time we had, just leave, we had the time we needed.” Said Old guy with the voice of a sage. 

As Marco jumped backward he had to avoid Crocodile knight’s bite, something he did barely but he couldn’t stop as the crocodile turned and hit the leader of the knight’s side with his tail. 

“We are even stronger now, isn’t it? This is nothing like the fight we had before we came to this dimension, it is nice to compare our strength one last time.” Said Crocodile knight with a satisfied tone. 

“Don’t flatter him, we already are leagues above this cheater!” Said Higgs kicking the side of Marco’s face with her log-like leg when he bent in pain from the last hit. 

“This is not a personal fight this time, is it?” Said Kelly as she joined in, facing Bigman with her enormous sword, both clashed weapons, Kelly’s sword went flying and she had to duck out of the mallet’s way. 

“We are trying to save your lives dumbasses!” said Hekapoo as she was trying to cut Oldguy spear with her scissors, but it seemed impossible as he was taking his weapon away from the slashes and even returning some of his own. 

“It’s not like you can’t come back here!” Said Jackie wrestling with the crocodile knight, yet the crocodile shook her off easily. 

Bigman swung his mallet at Kelly again, hitting the ground instead, but he let go of the mallet and hit Kelly with his fist, the woollett was able to block the hit but still sent her tumbling backward. 

Hekapoo finally got tired of trying to cut Oldguy’s spear and went in for the man himself but using his spear he tripped Hekapoo, the now mortal was visibly straining herself and panting heavily. 

Jackie was now avoiding bites from Crocodile knight, she was able to get behind him to grab his tail and try to pull or swing him but he proved too strong and swung Jackie instead. 

“Ok to hell with this!” Janna said, taking Marco’s scissors off her beanie. 

“Sab! Tentacles or vines, take your pick! And get me the furry ghost’s scissors while you are at it!” Janna screamed and started to chant the portal spell, Sabrina panicked and just put her hands on the floor mumbling and stuttering to herself. 

Marco and Higgs were now wrestling on the ground, the woman was now in her late 20’s and she seemed to be on the point of diminishing returns as she was now leaner...but not lean enough as she easily overpowered Marco and got him on a chokehold. 

“You are getting younger faster! Higgs, we need to get you out of this place!” Marco tried to scream, this seemed to pull Sabrina out of her stupor. 

“Tentacle hold!” Sabrina screamed and a bunch of tentacles grabbed hold of everyone present, including the resurrected knights and Nachos but the tentacles seemed afraid of grabbing the chanting Janna.

On their hold, Hekapoo let go of her scissors and a tentacle took it and threw it to Janna’s outstretched hand, the witch then cut the air with the scissors creating a huge portal and entered it. 

“You know what to do Sab!” Janna said getting swallowed by the portal. 

Sabrina’s hands glowed blue and the tentacles threw all of the people they were holding into the portal but the revived knights managed to dig their heels on the ground and were able to avoid getting flung but Higgs who was in the vice alongside Marco was struggling more against the Latino than with the magical tentacle. 

“Good luck Higgs!” Said Bigman somber and hopeful at the same time. 

“You did seem to have some unfinished business while you were here.” Said Oldguy trying to see the bright side to this. 

“Have fun and we’ll see each other again, I’m sure of it!” Said Crocodile knight with a confident smirk. 

“Guys!” Screamed Higgs being swallowed by the portal. 

***On the new dimension***

The portal dropped them off at a beach, the coral near the coast was peaking way above the clean blue sea, the sand was pure white and it glistened, there were no rocks just enormous crystals in the shape of rocks and the sky was a beautiful golden color that reflected off the roundish crystals. 

The team was getting their bearings back before Marco appeared out of the portal that closed in the blink of an eye as soon as it spat the Latino, the knight was hugging protectively a redhead that was now 19 years old still on her leather armor and boots. 

Both opened their eyes and saw each other...it wasn’t a pleasant experience for either, especially for Higgs. 

“You mother fucker!” Higgs screamed as he straddled Marco and started beating him. 

“Twice! You’ve destroyed everything I’ve worked for TWICE!” Higgs screamed. 

_ “You were very happy about it the first time!”  _ Greedy Heart answered as Marco was indisposed. 

“Shut it! What am I supposed to do now?! Go back to a dimension where no one remembers me!? If anyone I knew from there is still alive that is!” Higgs didn’t stop with the relentless wailing. 

_ “We could try it! Wanna give it a go! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GIVE IT A GO!”  _ Greedy Heart kept screaming. 

“Why aren’t you trying to stop this?” Marco said dizzy and very much in pain. 

“She looks like she has to work that stuff out.” Said Jackie shrugging as did the rest of the group. 

“No, you disgusting piece of shit! I will chase you through each and every dimension! And make every waking moment of your life a living hell!” Higgs stopped beating Marco to hold him close and scream at his face...He just went limp. 

“Next time you threaten him, you might want him to not be unconscious.” Jackie said to Higgs, offering her hand. 

“Welcome to the team, just promise Marco will get the brunt of your little oath.” Jackie said with a smile but Higgs frowned hitting Marco one last time eliciting a groan from him before standing up on her own and dusting herself. 

“I’m done for today and yes, he will get the worse of it, doesn’t mean it will be all of it.” Higgs said threateningly to the team as she climbed a crystal and sat on top of it. 

“She looks like a handful.” Said Brittney, not noticing the exasperated looks everyone was giving her. 

***Back in dimension X-103***

Three babies were alone crying on a clearing, one was bigger than the other two, another was a crocodile that still looked somehow human and the other was a regular baby, the ceaseless shrieking alerted a single wolf to the trio. 

The wolf approached them salivating at the three defenseless snacks but as he approached a rock fell on top of it killing the beast instantly. 

“Ehehehe, food! Finally!” Said an old hag covered shoulders to toe on a black cape, using a staff adorned with bones and feathers and sporting a bird skull as a mask. 

“What is this?” The hag noticed the crying children and raised them from the ground to inspect them closely. 

“Hope the three of you like eating wolf...that is the only decent meal you get around here, eheheheh.” The hag said, coating the babies on her cape.


	15. Chapter 15

Waking up in an unknown place alongside an excruciating amount of pain was becoming a little habit for Marco scarily enough, turning to see everywhere he just saw a golden sky, pure white sand, rock shaped crystals, and impossibly tall coral peeking out of an opaque blue ocean.

“Girls? Girls!?” Marco was startled at the distinct lack of women around. 

“Finally up?” A menacing voice came from behind him. 

Turning around the knight saw an unfamiliar face, the girl was around 19 years of age with short orange hair that slightly curl at the ends making wild spikes, her piercing green eyes adorned her freckled face, she was muscular but lean and around Marco’s height, and she was wearing leather armor on her chest, shoulders, and shins over a blue tunic, white pants and red boots that reached her tights, finally her forearms were protected by thick yellow bandaging.

“Higgs?” Marco said, still dizzy and disoriented. 

“No, no, no, no, Come on, a longer nap won’t hurt you.” Higgs’ voice was motherly and sweet but she had a crazed look on her eyes as she started to approach the Latino while hunched over and leading with her grabby hands. 

“Oh! Marco! Finally awake!” Chantelle appeared from behind the aggressive redhead with a big smile on her face, Higgs for her part shrieked and jumped in surprise, finally settling for hiding behind Marco. 

“Don’t get near me, entangling demon!” Higgs screamed, shaking with fear. 

“Entangling demon!” Chantelle yelped in surprise keeping a distraught face for a good two seconds before it turned into a wicked smile.

”...I like that, sounds like me.” Chantelle found that to be a great revelation, she then started to chase an escaping, screaming Higgs with a playful look on her face. 

Marco stared at the occurrence not knowing if his confusion was because of his aching head or if the event that just happened was indeed that confusing, but Marco was snapped out of his line of thought by an enthusiastic voice. 

“Finally up?!” Said a very happy looking Sabrina that was carrying what looked like a half-eaten lobster on hand and an untouched one on the opposite one. 

“What just happened?” Marco said rubbing his head, Sabrina sat beside him and eagerly offered him the lobster. 

“Just bite it, you can bite through the shell and it’s tasty too.” Marco accepted and Sabrina nodded with a bright smile. 

“As for what happened, Chantelle has been protecting you from Higgs the whole day.” Sabrina said with a giggle. 

“Wait! What about Chantelle and Higgs?...Wow...This IS really good.” Marco was surprised the shell was soft enough to chew...it felt like a seafood flavored marshmallow. 

“Higgs has been trying to attack you in your sleep the whole day, Chantelle was kind of assigned as your personal Higgs repellent.” Sabrina finished her explanation with a shrug. 

“Wait, how long was I out? I think I remember this very same sky when we arrived here, was I knocked out an entire day?” Marco took another bite. 

“You were out for a while but not a whole day, right now it would be midnight.” Sabrina said offhandedly and Marco almost snapped his neck at how fast he turned to see the apprentice witch, choking on the lobster in the process. 

“We don’t know if the days are very long here or if there is no night all together but the sky hasn’t changed in around 9 hours.” Sabrina said patting Marco on the back. 

“Well that is...interesting…” Marco finally swallowed the lump and just stared at Sabrina, the girl in question didn’t say anything and preferred to just blush. 

_ “Ok, I’ll break the ice, what sir. Tongue-tied over here is trying to say “What’s with that beautiful, radiant smile of yours? I’m falling in love.” I might have added or subtracted some words but the idea is intac-.”  _ Marco hit his chest as hard as he could. 

_ “Beating your chest so much lately can’t be good for you.”  _ Greedy Heart responded in between coughs and groans. 

“You know? It might be awful of me to say but I feel like I’m on a holiday, I’m on a beautiful beach, with people I went to middle school, that cult lost its leadership that makes them way less dangerous so my parents surely are safe and well, also no college, nor crazy monsters.” Sabrina said meekly, refusing to see eye to eye with Marco. 

“Ahahaha, Well that’s a nice way of seeing it, enjoy it to the fullest then, I will take you safely home, hopefully not late enough for you to get sick of this vacation.” Marco said reassuringly and while he didn’t notice he reached out and held Sabrina’s hand. 

“Yeah! Let's do that!” Sabrina said as her blush deepened and then turned to see the Latino. 

“By the way, how did you get this? It’s super good.” Marco said, finishing his lobster. 

“Oh, Jackie has been going crazy! She loves it here! She's been diving in and out of the water since we arrived.” Sabrina said excitedly. 

“Woah! Did one of Kelly’s swimsuits fit her?” Marco said, imagining Jackie in a similar state as him when he tried Glossarick’s swim trunks. 

“Nah, she isn’t wearing any.” Marco wasn’t sure if Sabrina really didn’t notice what she had just said. 

_ “Kid, I distract her, then you make a beeline to the shore!”  _ Greedy Heart said on Marco’s head with singular excitement. 

“Talking about that you should see the rest, they have been busy, come! They are near where Jackie is diving.” Sabrina began dragging Marco by the hand and that forced Marco to finally notice their entangled hands. 

_ “Hahaha! Did it take you this long to notice? I didn’t even have to inter- Wait! Heads up!”  _ Greedy Heart said and Marco noticed Sabrina tripping, reacting accordingly Marco caught the clumsy girl and held her on something like a dancing pose to then brace himself for a barrage of hits to his head as that would be usual with this situation but instead of sharp pain to his head he heard Sabrina’s giggles. 

“Sorry about that, I hope you are not getting sick of saving me from the floor.” Sabrina looked so small despite being the tallest person in the group, one head taller than Marco in fact, She looked like a small, defenseless puppy in the knight’s grasp. 

_ “Naked wet Jackie or adorable puppy Sabrina...Destiny gives the hardest of choices from time to time.”  _ Greedy Heart said in an overly dramatic matter. 

“Never! It’s a pleasure actually.” Marco loudly and hastily responded to Sabrina and completely ignored Greedy Heart. 

***With the group***

Brittney, Janna, and Hekapoo were sitting in a circle on the sandy floor. Janna was cradling Marcello, Hekapoo was inspecting the scissors closely and Brittney was putting every bit of focus she had in reading the diary of Mewni’s old queen. 

The mime and Kelly were taking inventory of what food they had, but that was short-lived as Higgs came running and hid in Kelly’s hair, Chantelle saw all of this but decided to just quit the chase to sit with the other two girls. 

“Hey girls! Look who is up!” Sabrina said holding Marco’s arm up. 

“Awesome!” Janna screamed and gave a thumbs up only to pass out immediately on the sand. 

“Janna! What happened?!” Marco ran towards the unconscious witch to hold her. 

“She is just tired, that spell was no joke, and then she forced herself to stay awake just to see if you were ok, seriously this girl cares about you an obscene amount.” Hekapoo said with a combination of admiration and spite in her voice. 

“Did you just give Janna a compliment?” Marco said pleasantly surprised. 

“I will only do that again if she is dead so enjoy that one.” Hekapoo shrugged “But anyways, on to the important stuff. For as much as I hate to say this and believe me, I really do...she is keeping your scissors.” Hekapoo looked like she wanted to gag at that statement. 

“Why? I mean it’s like they’re hers anyways but-.” Marco was cut short when Hekapoo shoved the scissors in front of him, they were cracked, Marcello then jumped and snatched the scissors before getting inside Janna’s beanie, a big huff of exhaustion was heard and then followed by soft snoring that harmonized with Janna’s own sleeping sounds. 

“They can’t be used as a weapon anymore, what’s more.” Hekapoo showed her own scissors and they were pristine...too pristine in fact, Hekapoo’s name was erased. 

“These ones are just a pair of sharp knives stacked on each other now, we need to keep the ones that are still magic as safe and as close as we can, they are from now on our only means to go forward so I won’t take the chance of them shattering if we use them as a weapon also if we do that trick of using them at half power again we will definitely lose them, that happens and we are stranded.” Hekapoo explained and Marco gulped hard. 

“And how long before they are fully charged?” Marco sounded worried. 

“Well those cracks are the gift that keeps on giving since it appears that it also prolonged the time needed for them to charge fully too, we’ve been here twice the time than in the last dimension and the scissors aren’t even half as charged as when we left that place...it might be one or two days in every new dimension before we can move on.” Hekapoo said with impatience but then sighed and turned to the sleeping Janna with a smile. 

“Good news for you though, now that we are not overexerting our tools you can open portals without turning into a zombie after.” Janna acknowledged this with a loud snore. 

“Knew you would love it.” Hekapoo said with a smug smile. 

“And you Brittney? What are you doing?” Marco said to the reading girl who frowned without tearing her eyes from the old diary. 

“You see, Barfo, I’m tracing a path of what I think are the least dangerous shitholes of this fucking web...Which is hard because every other fucking node here is a “ _ don’t enter this place without a magical barrier or you get torn to shreds/exploded/melted/just fucking kills you!!! _ ” Brittney’s rant became gradually louder and louder until a big hysteric finish and the Asian panting her frustrations away. 

“But there is a path?” Marco said not paying much mind to the heiress’ tantrum. 

“Yes, a long one.” Brittney got over her outburst in an instant to respond matter of factly. 

“Ehmmm...about...you know?” Marco awkwardly began. 

“The hair ball’s dimension is literally just beside ours, hers is our last stop before going back home.” Brittney said all this in one breath and not giving Marco the time of day still. 

“How did you-?” Marco was shocked at Brittney’s quick and blind but entirely accurate response. 

“It was obvious, the hairball is the only one here from another dimension that we care about at least and you are a goody-two-shoes, are we done? Can I go back to the map? I mean, it isn’t like it’s our top priority or anything.” Brittney said now looking at the Latino with a deep scowl but that face softened sharply when Marco felt someone hug his arm. 

“Of course you are done! Wanna come with me, Sir. Diaz?” Chantelle said clinging to Marco’s arm like a schoolgirl and Brittney just awkwardly looked at Marco with what the knight could only describe as pity before going back to the diary. 

“...Yeah...Ok, let’s go.” Marco said looking at Brittney from the corner of his eye in confusion as Chatelle dragged him away. 

***At a further place***

“Ehmm...Chantelle, don’t you think this is far enough?” Marco said nervously. 

_ “Kid! Do you think!? Do you think it’s happening?!”  _ Greedy Heart was anxious and excited. 

“Yeah...I think.” Chantelle said turning around to look at the place where they came from, the beach extended for as far as the eye could see, and even after a solid 15-minute walk that hadn’t changed in the least, and the short woman confirmed, the group was way beyond eyesight.

“Well, I guess this place will have to do.” Chantelle announced standing pleased and proud. 

_ “Did Christmas come early this year? How good a boy did you have to be to have such luck today!!!”  _ Greedy Heart had forgotten all his anxiousness and now was just ecstatic. 

“Now, you never thanked me for that whole Higgs fiasco.” Chantelle said with angled hips and a smug smile. 

_ “God damn it.”  _ Greedy Heart deflated in an instant. 

“Sorry about that, she must have been hard to deal with.” Marco said ashamed. 

“Nah, easy pickings actually.” Chantelle said offhandedly, this surprised Marco. 

“Really? I mean, I was in that dimension for 16 years and I came out able to beat every single knight on Mewni...she was there for literally a lifetime.” Marco said inquisitively to the smirking secretary. 

“Ohh~ is that so? Then shouldn’t I be able to kick your ass as well?” Chantelle said with as much pretend innocence as she could and Marco gave his back to her. 

“Ehh, I’m sure you would, I mean, it’s not a competit-.” Marco turned around fast to land a hit on Chantelle and she just sidestepped and stuck out her foot for the knight to trip on. 

“Great that it isn’t a competition! I have this weird feeling you would lose, ehehehe.” Chantelle was craning her neck down to see the downed warrior on the eye. 

_ “Oh, she isn’t.”  _ Despite being angry it was also intrigued and motivated, Marco shared the sentiment and jumped to his feet to try and continue the fight but was easily grabbed and thrown back into the sand, Chantelle this time squatted to look down on him with a smug smile. 

“I thought you knew karate? What’s with the oafish fighting? Is Higgs sincerely just an angry, ginger you with tits?” This proclamation just made Marco try harder...to a similar result. 

_“Hey kid, she is right...when was the last time you even practiced karate?”_ Greedy Heart casually said as Marco stood up from his sandy bed to try and land another punch. 

_ “You loved every second of it...well with the exception of Jeremy.”  _ Chantelle caught the punch on her right hand and locked his inner elbow with her left to flip the knight and make him eat sand again. 

“I’m sure those big attacks and crazy strength might be great for monsters that I _Can’t fight with judo_ or if you have a weapon on hand but you know, treating ME like one of those monsters, guarantees a one-way ticket to the ground.” Chantelle said with a cute giggle. 

_ “So that’s what happened with Higgs!”  _ Greedy Heart was distracted from his previous thoughts by this “AHA!” moment. 

Marco stood up again and tried to punch Chantelle again but this time when she tried to grab his arm, Marco retreated his fist and gave her a spinning kick but Chantelle ducked it and sweep his foot, as he was going down Marco dove to Chantelle and grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to the ground with him on top of her. 

“Well, you got me.” Chantelle said with a sweet smile, panting a bit. 

“Yeah! Thanks a lot for that! I really have left karate to the wayside!” Marco said with excitement, still on top of her. 

“You are very welcome, did you enjoy it?” Was Chantelle’s sweet question. 

“Yes! Very much! It’s been the best time I’ve had in awhile.” Marco got over his excitement a bit and noticed Chantelle’s soft smile and half-lidded eyes, and he suddenly felt a knot in his throat and a hole in his stomach, the look felt kind of familiar, those pleading eyes that Star would give him from time to time but there was something different here. 

But as he was pondering what exactly he had to do about Chantelle’s eyes, his hand left her shoulder to caress her flat, slick with sweat stomach, this made her give a small, cute moan. 

_ “That one… I might have helped with it.”  _ Greedy Heart chimed in and Marco jumped backward in a panic. 

“I’m sorry, I’ll go back now.” Marco fumbled into his feet and ran towards the rest of the group, he noticed how damp his palm was because of Chantelle sweat, forcing him to remember the feeling of her tummy on his hand making him shudder, shaking the thoughts away he ran faster. 

“Well, I’ll have to leave it at that for today then.” Said the not quite satisfied Chantelle as she stood up, dusted herself, and stretched before going back to the group in a relaxed relaxed pace. 

***With the rest of the group*** __

Marco arrived with the group on a mad dash and threw himself into the water hoping the cold water would clear his head but surprisingly the water was comfortably warm and as he was contemplating this Jackie burst out to the surface. 

“Woah! Dude, finally up?” She wiped her face off and the Latino noticed she was diving with her clothes on and as much as it embarrassed Marco to admit it, that disappointed him greatly. 

_ “Don’t give up so early kid! Look, it’s practically transparent now!”  _ Greedy Heart shouted as if he was cheering for his son on an important game, Marco’s eyes strayed to Jackie’s chest for less than half a second but he noticed that yes, the light green shirt was see-through now. 

“Yeah! Very awake!” Marco said, painfully tearing his eyes away from her chest and into her eyes with a deep blush. 

“Sneakingapeek?” Jackie said very quickly to a nervously laughing Marco. 

“WHAT? NO!!! I MEAN YES!...MAYBE!?” Marco’s eyes were darting everywhere but the blonde. 

“Well if you are so full of energy, you can keep watch as the rest of us sleep, no one has had a good night's sleep but you after all.” Jackie batted her eyelashes to Marco and the knight got a decisive look on his face. 

“I will, with pleasure.” Marco was determined to carry his weight, this was going to be a looooong journey by the looks of it and he refused to be the guy that passed most of it unconscious and protected. 

“Great then.” Jackie patted him on the back and went to shore. 

“How was my bra?” The girl asked offhandedly without even turning around. 

“The mellow yellow under your seafoam green shirt was a great cho-.” Marco bit his tongue once he noticed what he was saying. 

“Thanks! I just put on the first thing I saw but it looks like it turned out ok.” Jackie turned around with a bright smile before going back to the group. 

_ “Smooth as sandpaper my boy, you’ve improved I’m proud.”  _ Greedy Heart gave the last comment of the conversation. 

Marco went back to the group after diving in the water to scream in embarrassment and frustration a few dozen times. Jackie was right about the girls being completely tuckered out, all of the girls were huddled together under an enormous umbrella to protect themselves from the sun, Jackie was covered with a thick towel and Marco found her clothes laid out on a towel a step away from the sleeping group, he blushed at the sight. 

“Huh...the bottoms match.” Marco said quietly to himself. 

“Really, Barfo?” Brittney exasperatedly whispered. 

“Ahhhh!” Marco jumped in surprise and saw Brittney with her nose still buried in the diary, looking back at the huddled women he noticed that even Higgs was there under the umbrella but apparently the Latino didn’t notice the rich girl’s absence in the pile. 

“Shut it, they need their sleep.” Brittney angrily whispered and Marco turned a curious eye towards her. 

“What about you?” Marco sat beside the Asian woman. 

“This is a piece of cake compared to the days of crunch and I’m not in the mood for snuggles.” Brittney pointed at the pile of girls. 

“So, the hard life of a CEO?” Marco tried to break the ice. 

“Ha! Good joke, I’m just the head of a subsidiary, I won’t be a CEO until dad steps down.” Brittney still didn’t look at Marco. 

“Oh...I seeeeee~.” The Latino awkwardly tried to keep the conversation going. 

“Ugh, ok Barfo, wanna talk? Chantelle told us that you two only sparred a bit, is that true?” Brittney let the diary down on her lap to inquisitively look at the knight. 

“Yeah, that’s about it, she said that I was fighting like a brute and she kept trashing me.”

“Attacked your ego.” Brittney said quietly to herself, Marco didn’t even notice. 

“But then she reminded me about my karate...embarrassingly enough.” Marco blushed. 

“Encouraged you so it would look like she cares.” 

“With that, I took a win off of her.” 

“Finally gave you the carrot tied to the stick.” 

“...But when I pinned her to the ground...she had this...LOOK...about her.” 

“Gave you the fuck me eyes.” Marco managed to hear the comment this time and the Latino quickly turned to look at her with wide eyes and a blush. 

“Anything else?” Brittney said impatiently. 

“Well...I still have to apologize for this but I caressed her exposed midriff, she really didn’t like it because she gave a yelp, I got embarrassed and scared so I ran away...that’s all.” Marco finished his story more embarrassed than he thought he would. 

“Holy shit, she even tried to sound innocent while giving you permission, the slut knows she is in this for the long haul.” Brittney said with a laugh. 

“Hey don’t-.” Marco began with a scowl but Brittney swiftly cut him off. 

“Before the courageous knight Barfo tries to defend a poor maiden’s honor, let me remind you, I and Chantelle have been together since pretty much birth, we were on the same circle all throughout school and she is even my fucking personal assistant, I know Chantelle way better than you do.” Brittney said but Marco’s scowl had not dwindled in the least. 

“Bitch just turned twenty, two weeks ago and she already wrecked three homes, there are hours of security footage on my building of her dragging men to the women bathroom stalls, her record is six guys on the same day.” Brittney gave the report as if she was reading a grocery list. 

“And here is the thing Barfo, right now she is in quite the precarious position, the slut never mounts the same bone twice but she is on a trip that is going to last months by the looks of it and there is but a single piece of guaranteed man meat on it.” Brittney said while pointing an accusatory finger at Marco. 

“What? You want me to believe all that slander? How does she even make all that happen? I don’t know why you are trying to defame your own friend like that but I didn’t think you were this nasty.” Marco’s scowl deepened, Brittney groaned and her palm met her face. 

“That is the point I wanted to treat with you, goodie-goodie knight, I have no idea what she does but it works every single time, no matter what, the poor sap will always end up begging her on their knees even if they rejected her before, especially if they rejected her before and I don’t even think she does that out of malice she just thinks it’s exciting to go for the ones that are hard to get.” Brittney said to Marco’s surprise with legitimate concern.

“Believe me Diaz the last thing you want is for her to think you are fun to chase, especially now that she quite surely sees you as an emergency dick, and let’s not forget, she might have to fuck you more than once...not even I know what would happen by that point.” Brittney took a calming breath and continued with a softer expression. 

“You make it sound like a sure thing that it will happen.” Marco chimed in.

“Because it will, you have two options here, and don’t even try to say  **I’ll just keep rejecting her** , because that won’t fucking work, option one is for you to pray that our way home is paved with guys for that she is willing to take her frustrations off on...or just cave in, let her do what she wants, no fuss no muss, be just another drop in the bucket and by the time we arrive home she probably won’t even remember fucking you.” Brittney said arms crossed but with a soft concerned expression on her face. 

“I...What about Star?” Marco didn’t know what to say with the pit of anger boiling in his stomach and that was the first and strongest point that popped into his head. 

“Ugh! That’s the fucking attitude that attracts her dumbass, what have I been fucking telling you? What Butterface doesn’t know, won’t hurt her, Chantelle is never gonna tell and most importantly never try to hook up with you again, you will never have to think about it again if you listen to me, try your dumb way of  **I don’t want to betray the airhead** and next time you see her will be on a leash with a gimp suit, THAT is something the princess doesn’t deserve.” Brittney exasperatedly pleaded with Marco. 

“Thanks for the concern but I’ve gone through a lot, I think I can manage.” Marco said, taking a calming breath and standing up as his way of finishing the conversation. 

“Yeah? And how many of those things you went through had to do with girls trying to jump on your bones? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.” Brittney said with a condescending and angry voice. 

_ “Ahahahaha! She got you there kid!”  _ Greedy Heart responded in Marco’s head. 

“As I said, I’ll manage.” Marco didn’t turn around to see Brittney and just began to slowly make his way to a nearby crystal rock. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but hey look at the bright side, once the princess is thoroughly devastated, you won’t care, you will only think about Chantelle.” Brittney said mockingly.

_ “Leaving someone eating dirt and not caring because you are too fixated on someone else? Now that is something you know a lot about! Eh, kid?!”  _ Greedy Heart said almost rolling on the floor with laughter and Marco bit his lip as hard as he could so he wouldn’t scream his head off at his internal organs again. 

Marco climbed the crystal rock and sat on top of it hugging his knees, The vintage point proved useful to oversee the girls and Brittney, he noticed the latter trying to go back to the diary but looked to antsy to concentrate on it, so she closed the diary with as much force as she could with one hand and grumbling all the way, she joined in with the rest of the seeping girls after shoving the diary on the sleeping Kelly’s hair, this gave Marco some peace of mind. 

_ “You don’t even want to believe her do you?”  _ Greedy Heart had composed itself and now apparently approached the issue seriously.

“Why should I? Everything she said was absolutely ludicrous.” Marco snapped. 

_ “Really hard to believe, I know, but I mean, I wanna get on those overly taxed lycra shorts as much as anybody, if it’s easy all the better, no?”  _ Greedy Heart said pensively. 

“Gee, why don’t you pop out of my torso then? I’m sure you can charm them off in no time.” Marco said with a grimace. 

_ “Of course I can! But seriously though...that pompous bitch was way too concerned with this, kinda makes it a bit credible, don’t you think?”  _ Greedy Heart tried to calmly reason. 

“It’s probably BECAUSE it’s a lie, if it wasn’t she would shut up and laugh at me when all the doom and gloom she predicted happened, but since none of that will happen, she is just trying to make me look like a fool!” Marco explained his reasoning, venting his anger in the process. 

_ “And you think she would put that much effort into you? In any way? Really? I mean, even if she didn’t hate you she still has way better things to worry about, look at her, she has been tracing that path non-stop since we woke up, do you really think she has enough time to waste on you? Just for a cheap laugh?”  _ Greedy Heart said, truly curious and as much as Marco didn’t want to admit it, he was actually being swayed. 

“Why are we even discussing this? If what she said is true then that means I’m getting laid no matter what I do, you should be making a ruckus up here.” Marco gave his head a knock. 

_ “Nah, even if Brittney is truly lying, you are getting laid anyways.”  _ Greedy Heart said offhandedly. 

“What the fuck are you talking about?! I have Star, in what language do I have to tell you this before you stop spewing your shit?” Marco was frustrated. 

_“In the language that explains how making out with Janna and Hekapoo is not cheating or did you forget about those already? But you are just going to be a hypocrite and act like that or the promise you made to Janna for that matter didn’t happen.”_ Greedy Heart spoke like a disappointed parent. 

“If Janna remembered that promise she would have already teased me to high heavens about being naked together so we’ll leave it like that.” Marco said in the most serious voice he could muster and scowled. 

“And everything that happened with Hekapoo was your fault.” Marco said contorting his neck to look at Greedy Heart. 

_ “Are you sincerely trying to pin all that on me?”  _ Marco could  _ feel _ Greedy Heart’s raised eyebrow. 

“What it wasn’t?” Marco seemingly deflated. 

_ “No! It was your DI- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?”  _ Marco turned to see the umbrella the girls were resting under catching fire. 

“Girls! You’re on fire!” Marco ran screaming to the girls, all of them opened their eyes slowly but went on full alert after seeing the flames.

All of them scurried to the sea and observed what was happening, the sun had reached its zenith and it’s light was now being amplified and redirected through the crystal rocks like a magnifying glass to pretty much everywhere, they saw as the canopy of the umbrella was carbonized by flame and how the metal from ribs to handle melted in record time, Mime sniffed and gave a salute to the lost item. 

“This would be beautiful if it wasn’t horrifying...Look!” Kelly said and everyone saw the rays hitting the coral making it splinter and brown, small new tentacles started to emerge from the scarred tissue but the show was cut short. 

“Hey, guys...don’t you think the water is getting warmer?” Sabrina said nervousness appeared in her voice but everyone’s eyes widened when they noticed that was the case, the water was heating up quickly. 

“If we go deeper it’s bound to be colder!” Sabrina’s pupils turned to pins as she screamed the first solution that came to mind. 

“For how long dumbass? We need to breathe!” Brittney lost her cool second. 

“Follow me! I found something down there that will help.” Jackie ordered and with all her clothes on hand she dove into the sea with everyone following behind. 

Everyone followed a naked Jackie as she swam under the sea at away faster than anyone else but they could follow the girl at a somewhat comfortable distance with the exceptions of Brittney with her broken hand and Janna with her poor condition were lagging behind, Marco noticed this and as he turned back to help, Mime swam right past him and dragged both girls at an impressive speed, even catching up to Jackie. 

The group reached what looked like an entrance to a sunken city but they couldn’t stand around to admire it as their oxygen was running short and the water now felt like needles pricking their skin so they entered without much contemplation. 

They entered an underwater room, Marco entered last and saw everyone coughing and catching their breath with the exception of Mime and Jackie who was brooding on a corner and putting on clothes respectively, one of these two attracted Marco’s attention the most. 

“You trying to catch flies there or something, dude?” Jackie said, raising one eyebrow while adjusting her bra, not even attempting to cover herself. 

“Sorry! Sorry.” Marco turned around with a blush, he wanted to approach Mime but Greedy Heart was being a nuisance. 

_ “I wanted to see!!! But I need to stay alive!!! But I wanted to see it!!! And I saw nothing!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!”  _ Greedy Heart was wailing inside Marco’s head at full volume and while being preoccupied with that Chantelle reached Mime before him. 

“Hey there.” Said Chantelle as she was getting closer to Mime but the mime just hunkered down. 

“There, there, don’t worry, I just wanted to make sure you had enough makeup for another full application/” Chantelle got near and whispered, “Kelly has a big haul of it, I’m sure I can find some waterproof stuff for you.” Mime noticeably relaxed and allowed herself to straighten up. 

“You are the first person I can fangirl over romance and relationships within a long while, if seeing what's under that thick makeup makes me lose that privilege, I have no intention of seeing it.” Chantelle observed carefully for a response which was a slight nod from Mime. 

“You seem fascinated by purple and pink, but what do you say? Is red good enough for a try?” Chantelle said like a shady salesman but Mime perked up and flashed a thumbs-up, the bowl cut woman laughed. 

“Ok, you stay there, I’ll get the things.” Chantelle stood up and ran towards Kelly, Marco for his part saw the whole exchange. 

_ “I know what you are thinking and this doesn’t prove or disprove anything.”  _ Greedy Heart said trying to reason with a very unwilling Marco, the Latino bit his lip to not interact with Greedy Heart in any way but when he finally noticed something, he stopped dead in his tracks and asked. 

“Hey, Where's Nachos?” Marco looked everywhere and saw no sign of the biological motorcycle. 

“Don’t worry, she’s he-.” Kelly’s hair had been shuffling like crazy since Chantelle entered but as if on cue Nachos ran out of Kelly’s hair with haste, not bothering to look at anybody and roaring as she did a barrel roll as she separated from the group to go deeper into the ruins. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened, she just seemed antsy and then ran away.” Chantelle said worried as she stumbled out of Kelly’s hair, Jackie, Hekapoo, and Marco facepalmed and at the same time said. 

“She isn’t a big fan of inactivity.” Was the exasperated chorus.

“Hey assholes, is that bike immune to heat and the like?” Higgs chimed in. 

“Nooooooooo~?” Again the trio answered now confused. 

“Then I hope you guys like dragon soup.” Higgs said with a malicious smile while pointing at the entrance of the tunnel they entered from and the water was now noticeably bubbling and steaming, the Nachos trio’s eyes widened and quickly turned to follow the dragon. 

“Nachos come back here!” Marco. 

“Turn around you dumb dragon!” Hekapoo. 

“Here, girl! *whistle*” Jackie. 

“Ooo! I’m not missing this!” Higgs said following the trio closely, Brittney saw this with annoyance and facepalmed. 

“God damn it!” Brittney said and Janna got near her with her usual smirk. 

“Don’t worry rich girl, there is still time left before we can move on, so show me that hand, let’s see what we can do about it.” Janna said putting her hands ablaze with purple flames, with a scowl Brittney put her bandaged hand on Janna’s. 

“It’s not the time that bothers me, the goodie two shoes is gonna see this destroyed place and probably try to “save it” or something, I’m not that mean, really, but I hope there are no survivors to tug on that imbecile’s heartstringsssss...whaaat theeee fuuuuuck issss gooinggg onnnnn?” Brittney’s speech was gradually getting slower and slower until she was full-on slurring her words, her eyes became unfocused and she was swaying side to side trying to keep herself sitting upright. 

“These flames don’t heal you, they force you to heal faster, so the bigger the injury the more this little spell takes out of you, you are of strong constitution rich girl I’ll give you that but that doesn’t mean you don’t get tired, enjoy the nap, Wong, you really need it.” Janna said with an overconfident smile to contrast against Brittney’s exhausted scowl. 

“Fuck youuu…” Brittney was able to slur out before her eyes blanked out and she unceremoniously passed out on the floor. Sabrina saw all this with a scared look in her eyes. 

“So wait, that spell forces your body to accelerate the healing process?” Sabrina parroted what Janna had just said in a panicky way. 

“That’s what I just said.” Janna said as if she had said “so what?” instead. 

“THAT MEANS THAT THING COULD BE A COUP DE GRÂCE IN THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU DERANGED WITCH!!!” Sabrina screamed while pulling her hair. 

“Ohh really? never thought about that.” Janna said in a macabre way, Sabrina crawled to her magic teacher and stood up to look at Janna’s eye with her terrified and blood-shot own. 

“Chill, Sab, I get it, I’ve never used it on anything above a broken bone...heck I didn’t use it on Marco’s ribs and arms when we stormed the castle, I only healed bruises and the like.” Janna said signaling Sabrina to calm down. 

“Hey that’s right, what about those pills? No one was fatigued after using them, the complete opposite actually.” Kelly said getting closer. 

“They take a few weeks each, and need very specific ingredients to make, by the way, those ingredients, not anywhere near us.” Janna deadpanned and sat leaning her back on the wall. 

“Ohhh La La!” Chantelle said when Mime finished her makeup and gave a deep bow with a lustrous red smile. 

“And can we deal back the french, please? Just Jackie is annoying enough.” Janna adjusted her beanie over her eyes to go back to sleep. 

***Looking for Nachos***

Marco and the group turned another corner looking for the dragon that had taken the chase as a game of tag, Nachos had been stopping and flying over their heads when they got close, making sharp turns and accelerating on straight halls, all the while turning her head to see her chasers with playful eyes. 

“That’s right Nachos, this is a fun game, just don’t try to run to the water.” Marco said with a nervous smile as they closed in on her, near another pool of scalding hot water.

“Got you, you stupid dragon!” Higgs jumped from behind Marco, landing on the motorcycle's back and grabbing her by the throat. 

Nachos started thrashing and turning rapidly to get Higgs off her back but the ginger proved too adamant for it, the dragon got tired after a few minutes of violent thrashing and calmed down now far away from the bubbling pool. 

“Ha! I win, you overgrown liz-.” When Nachos felt Higgs relax on her back she made a front wheelie motion sending Higgs flying off of her, the redhead landed on her back with a loud thud and to everyone’s surprise, she laughed about it. 

“You are one big, scaly, smartass aren’t you?” Higgs started to scratch the dragon’s chin lightly with a warm look on her face “...Lord, I feel like a teenager again.” 

“Higgs...you are a teenager.” Jackie said with some concern but it kind of dawned on Higgs as she sat upright and started to prod herself, feeling her stomach, arms, and everywhere else, she turned misty-eyed. 

“My muscles, my precious gains, my years adventuring, my friends in the neverzone! The life I made over 70 fucking years!!! YOU FUCK!!!” Higgs grew more and more irritated after each word and finally opted to throw herself at Marco. 

“And there we go again.” Jackie said, a bit irritated, setting herself aside to just lean on a wall to be as far away as possible from the fight. 

“The crazy girl lost an entire life, can’t really blame her...I know how she feels even.” Hekapoo sat beside the cop. 

“Hey being mortal isn’t that bad.” Jackie tried to lighten the mood. 

“Living a second life should be something any mortal beg for and look at her.” Hekapoo pointed at the cloud of dust that was the fighting ginger and latino. 

“I’m gonna kill you for dragging me into this, fake knight!” screamed Higgs trying to grab hold of Marco’s throat. 

_ “The ones that threw you into the portal where Janna and Sabrina, genius!”  _ Greedy Heart opted to take the verbal fight with Higgs. 

“Don’t get them involved with this, asshole!” Marco responded but he was ignored as Higgs responded to Greedy Heart. 

“Because you were entangled with me and even before that I’m sure your stupid group tried to “save me” because you hypocrite thought I was your responsibility, HOW BIG A RESPONSIBILITY WAS I WHEN YOU OPENED THE DOOR IN THE FIRST PLACE!? Don’t use me to ease your fucking conscience, you dick!!!” Higgs kept screaming.

_ “How many times I have to tell you to not make me agree with you!!! You counting cunt!!! Also, I noticed in your stupid list you didn’t have a family, imagine my shock, no one could stand you enough to live with you!!!”  _ Greedy Heart topped that comment off with a mocking laugh and Higgs with a gasp, turned indignant to Marco. 

“You don’t know what to say and you just try to hit under the belt!? That’s the mark of a loser!!!” Higgs doubled her efforts. 

“Well yeah, she seems a bit bitter about this.” Jackie said watching the fight with fascination while she and Hekapoo petted a very clingy Nachos in between them. 

“Why is she so clingy with you? It took years of me giving Marco grief before she got used to me and it took Marco an entire year of effort to tame her.” Hekapoo said a bit confused turning to the cop who had a sweet smile on her face. 

“Also a few months of trying, dudette, she even lived with me for a day.” Jackie said with her smile persisting and flashing a “V” sign. 

“Wait, live with you? The only other ones that had the pleasure were me and Kelly, and we were all cozy with that guy.” Hekapoo pointed at Marco struggling on the floor with Higgs on top of him. 

“Three women and the princess!? How did YOU manage that!?” Higgs doubled her efforts once again. 

_ “Don’t ask me, I ain’t got a clue!”  _ Greedy Heart kept the ball rolling. 

“Are you two ganging up on me!?” Screamed Marco protecting his face. 

“Yeah...I’m actually the first one, you are the second and Kelly was the last one before he finally settled with Star…” Jackie said with a noticeable tint of nostalgia on her voice. “Janna would be like the fantom girlfriend, she always was but never an official one, you know, she always said that nothing good would come out of trying.” Jackie said, forcing herself to keep her smile now. 

“Hehe, I gave too little credit to the third rate magician then, so you are the first one to feel the brunt of it? How did it happen? With me the idiot wanted to pass a trail I made specifically for people to fail it… and he didn’t stop until he succeeded… I actually thought we had gotten close in those 16 plus years.” Hekapoo said looking heartbroken, she turned to see Jackie with misty eyes. 

“But he made it very clear that the princess was his priority so I just turned on my heel and left.” Hekapoo said turning to face forward with a resolute look on her face, Marco and Higgs were now too preoccupied with their scuffle to pay attention to what was going on around them, taking that into account Jackie decided to reciprocate Hekapoo in kind. 

“You would not believe it, the guy was actually pinning for me since we were toddlers but I didn’t notice, then when Star appeared, she started to encourage him to get to me...long story short, he did, oh boy he did.” Jackie said with a small smile that soured. 

“But then our little matchmaker had to go and confess to him in front of everyone, including me, but that’s not all, she had to pepper the confession with a little Cinderella act going away into the night with no way to reach her...with Marco not far behind her, we didn’t even break up until he came back and all he did was talk about how great Mewni was, then he went right back to her.” Jackie said now sharing the dejected look of Hekapoo. 

“Wow, the guy really knows how to twist the knife, doesn’t he? Pffft, let me tell you Kells story because I’m sure that if she does it...something like that would happen.” Hekapoo pointed at Marco being subjected to a chokehold courtesy of Higgs. 

“Who cares that I could never hold a relationship for more than a few months!? Who needs them anyway!?” Higgs said with a desperate and raging mad look on her face. 

“Ahahaha, yeah, think exactly that just a lot hairier.” Hekapoo got a big smile. 

“Nah, she already gave me the basics before you showed up, if she wants to give the full story, then she’ll do it.” Jackie said with a kind smile directed at Hekapoo but then she became startled and looked around, Hekapoo followed suit. 

“Hey! You two!” Both of them said, finally getting the attention of the quarreling duo. 

“Nachos ran away again!” Jackie and Hekapoo gestured to the place and lo and behold, the dragon had sneaked away again. 

“Why the fuck did you distracted me!?” Marco and Higgs screamed at each other and ran towards...somewhere to look for Nachos. 

***A few hours later***

Marco and the group had been running for a while, all of them were sweaty, panting, and dragging their feet but Hekapoo was worse than the rest. 

“Being mortal isn’t that bad, *Huff* you secrete a liquid that soaks your hair and clothes and gets into your eyes, that stings like hell, by the way, you also need *Pant* to replenish the stupid liquid because you start drying on the inside, also you need *Huff* oxygen so you will start sucking it in *Gasp* harder making your already dry insides drier which hurts like a mother fucker, oh boy do I love being mortal!!! *Pant* *Pant*.” Hekapoo turned to Jackie with a scowl. 

“Keep talking, make it worse.” Was Jackie's morose response. 

“Look, the water seems to be cooling.” Said an out of it Marco looking through a window, up until a few minutes ago the windows showed an endless amount of big bubbles going to the surface at match speed but it had now reduced to small bubbles that cling to the window glass, interestingly enough the lobsters and a variety of wildlife was swimming pleasantly on the boiling water. 

“You’ll still boil if I throw you in it, so shut up.” Higgs said in annoyance, turning to see Marco, but noticed the Latino was not paying attention, opting to just stare deeply into the window. 

“Are you listening to me? you piece of sh-.” Higgs started to raise her voice but Marco lit up and pointed to the window. 

“She is there!” Marco pointed at a tower that was near the place they were, in fact, you could see the tunnel that connected them to the very tip of the tower that seemed to be buried under the sand and that was the only visible tunnel for the building, they had her cornered, her only way was down or through them. 

“Let’s go!” Was Marco’s rallying cry as he caught his second wind and ran towards the tower along with Jackie and Higgs, Hekapoo huffed and puffed along very far behind. 

“Yeah! *pant* I’ll arrive eventually *gasp* or find you when you come back.” said an exhausted Hekapoo. 

Marco and the reduced group arrived to see Nachos in front of a ginormous pool of water and the dragon dunked her head in it. 

“No!” Was the response of everyone there, all of them hurried to help the dragon but Higgs tripped and fell into the pool. 

“Higgs!” Jackie said in horror, only for Higgs to resurface as if nothing happened. 

“It’s...cold?” Higgs said confused, then made a cup with her hands and gave a big gulp.

“It’s drinkable too!” Said Higgs excited. 

“OH GOD YES!” Was the voice of a just arriving Hekapoo who jumped straight into the pool leaving her lips underwater to drink to her heart's content. 

“Ok girl, you played enough now, we are going back...and maybe explore a bit more once we are rested if the scissors still need some juice.” Said Jackie taking her head out of the pool after dunking it in there. 

“I object, I’ve had enough of this place.” Said Marco after doing the same action as Jackie, Hekapoo for her part left the pool to lay down on the floor perfectly content.

“This must be an underground reservoir that the people of this place drilled.” Said Higgs examining the water on her hands while still in the pool, not noticing a dark shadow that was slowly rising through the pool. 

“Those guys had quite the system, dry caves to hide when the water started to boil and a big reservoir of water...wonder what happened to them?” When Higgs finished an enormous brown centipede burst to the surface throwing Higgs to the air. 

In mid-air, Higgs turned to see what looked like a skull covered by skin with no meat, its eyes a pair of bulging orbs, and a pair of enormous pincers protruding for what should have been the cheeks, all of it attached to a body of a centipede that was covered on the shell of a lobster. Screaming at the sight Higgs was going directly into its mouth but Nachos caught her mid-air before that could happen. 

Hekapoo tried to stand up but the fatigue was too much and her legs gave in, dropping her into the ground, taking her scissors and eyeing the leader of the knights. 

“Marco!” Hekapoo threw her scissors to the Latino who caught them and ran towards the centipede and made a gash on it’s exposed underside but Marco was left floating in the pool and the centipede turned to the Latino. 

“Jackie!” Marco screamed as he threw the scissors to Jackie, the centipede for its part dove on top of the Latino dragging him underwater with it but before it could fully submerge Jackie jumped on top of it and stabbed the scissors as hard as she could. 

Under the water Marco was hugging the pincer-like a koala to not get into the mouth of the thing but the beast was not appreciative of it because then it tried to shake off the knight, then suddenly the thrashing became more violent and the centipede resurfaced as quickly as it could with Marco still clinging to the side of its head. 

With a quick gasp for air, Marco gave a look everywhere and saw Jackie passed out on the wall by the centipede’s back, it must have thrown her away as it resurfaced and to the beast’s front the still exhausted Hekapoo, this attracted the monster’s attention as it readied itself to go for the downed furred woman. 

“Oh shit.” Hekapoo said with fear and resignation as the centipede dove towards her but before connecting Nachos came down on the centipede while breathing fire at it, the monster reeled back with enough strength to launch Marco behind it and the Latino almost landed on the unconscious Jackie. 

“Jackie! Jackie! Can you stand?!” Marco said, slapping the girl lightly and she woke up slowly. 

“Give me 5 minutes, I’ll be up and running...but right now help me.” Marco nodded and supported her to stand. 

“We need to get to Hekapoo...Why do I feel I’m forgetting something?” Marco said stopping dead in his tracks. 

“DIE MONSTER!!!” Higgs screamed with the scissors on hand as she fell on top of the beast and slashed to cut its head but the centipede evaded, still, Higgs cut off one of its pincers and one of its eyes. 

“Come at me!” Higgs was standing between the centipede and Hekapoo at the edge of the pool, the beast obliged and attacked, Higgs waited for it to get close, and with a sweep of the scissors the other of its pincers was gone too, reeling back in pain the centipede was open, an opportunity that Nacho seized by torching the creature’s other eye. 

Nachos dove to pick up Higgs and the warrior separated the scissors and taking advantage of the centipede being completely upright, the ginger jumped from the dragon and made a huge gash under the monster’s head, its body only staying together for failing to cut through the shell, making the monster fall limp and lifeless beside Marco and Jackie. 

“Woooowww.” Everyone there was amazed at the sight. The gash on the monster’s throat started to wiggle and Higgs emerged from it drenched from head to toe with bluish blood and assorted vile and viscera, she turned to Marco and screamed. 

“YOU SAW THAT, FAKE KNIGHT!? THAT’S MY SKILL!!! I’M THE STRONGEST!!!” She screamed while pointing at Marco with the scissors, she then promptly threw the tools at the latino’s feet, embedding them to the floor.

“No doubt about it.” Marco gave her a confident smile. 

_ “I softened it up for ya.”  _ Greedy Heart added playfully, the duo (kind of trio) stared at each other with a knowing smile for a bit, until voices started echoing through the hall. 

“Are you sure?” Came the voice of Chantelle. 

“If it’s a ruckus they are surely in it!” Was the confident voice of Janna. 

“I have to agree!” Kelly said annoyed. 

“But can’t we wait for them!? I’m not comfortable going headfirst into the ruckus!!!” Echoed a panicked Sabrina.

Everyone entered the chamber and everyone was frozen stiff at the sight, Chantelle even dropped the sleeping Brittney from her back because she was carrying her all the way there. 

“OW! Mother fucker! Some people are trying to...WHAT THE FUCK!?” Screamed Brittney at the sight. 

*** Sometime later***

Higgs had butchered up the centipede, the amount of meat being able to make a full meal for all of them, they managed to secure a good amount for a while, and yet the centipede was still mostly untouched as most of its carcass was still resting in the clean pool. 

Kelly’s hair came with a kitchen and lots of utensils and other goodies, Marco for his part tried to use them to the fullest.

“I can’t believe you had a grill in there.” Marco said while he checked a few pieces of jerky. 

“Pfft, with all the space I have in here it would be weird not to.” Kelly fluffed her hair proudly. 

“Fighter, diplomat, chef, any other talent I’m not aware of?” Asked Chantelle with those half-lidded eyes. 

_ “Say ‘wanna check?’ and try to sound suave.”  _ Marco could hear Greedy Heart wagging its eyebrow inside his head. 

“I’m not all that good in any of those fields, sorry.” Marco said embarrassed. 

“We should be thanking Kelly, without all the stuff she is carrying, we would only be able to roast this thing...if anything.” Marco turned to Kelly. 

“Are you kidding me? This liver you prepared is delicious!!!” Kelly said wolfing down her plate. 

“Kell...it’s raw.” Marco said in a flat tone and Chantelle joined him with a confused expression. 

“I want more!!!” Kelly said with starry eyes. 

“I’m with her!!!” Jackie said on her fourth plate of centipede roast. 

“Can you not be so disgusting when you eat, I barely think I can keep this food down and you are not helping.” Brittney screamed with a plate of boiled centipede soup.

Higgs was standing beside the carcass looking at it questioningly, Marco noticed and went to talk to her. 

“Already full?” Marco asked the redhead. 

“Six plates is more than enough, fake knight.” Higgs said, not turning to see Marco but sounding way calmer than he has heard her since meeting her again. 

“And here I thought we were on better terms.” Marco said with mock dejection. 

“Keep dreaming.” Higgs said with a playful smile but her face hardened immediately. 

“This thing…” Higgs began. 

“Is from the depths.” Jackie finished for her. 

“Nacho’s fire wouldn’t be all that hotter than continued exposure to the water boiling outside but it had it reeling, it probably was used to deeper, colder waters.” Jackie said. 

“It probably got lost and used this place as a safe haven...then the food ran out, that thing was eager to get one of us no matter what we did to it, it probably was starving.” Higgs continued. 

“Yeah, I agree, there were probably people here.” Sabrina approached to give her two cents. 

“Maybe they were amphibious or something, the city out there looks completely submerged, maybe they used these caves to escape the boiling water but used the boiling water to be safe from things like this.” Sabrina theorized. 

“It just failed them and they ended up wiped out huh? Poor guys.” Kelly said crestfallen. 

“Mostly correct but they had another line of defense, a shield.” Brittney said after a sip of her soup and everyone stared at her either amazed or disbelieving, then the heiress took out the dairy.

“After reading the diary a bit closer and not just looking for ‘kill zone’ or ‘no-kill zone’.” Brittney went to a specific page in the diary. 

“This was a buzzing civilization but as you saw the surface isn’t habitable and those deep sea monsters were a very big threat, they had a shield to fend them off when the water became cold enough for them to wander here, surely the shield was the thing that failed.” Brittney took another sip. 

“But I don’t know how they used the shield…  _ and that stupid queen should have put those sun lasers in something other than a footnote. _ ” Brittney finished under her breath, Marco began to ponder what he just heard but was interrupted by a screaming Sabrina. 

“Hekapoo for the love of God, eat something!” Sabrina begged the ex-magical creature. 

“No, I refuse.” Hekapoo’s stomach grumbled. 

“Is this just a tantrum?” Sabrina said exasperated. 

“Call it whatever you want, I ain’t putting anything in my mou-.” Hekapoo began screaming at Sabrina but she opened her mouth wide enough for Marco to shove some grilled centipede in it. 

Hekapoo chew sonorously, her eyes widening and a small blush forming on her cheeks, she then turned to Marco who still had some more food in his hand and the redhead threw a bite to try and get the rest of it that almost snagged Marco’s hand instead of the food and once again chewed loudly and swallowed with just as much volume. 

“This tastes much better than last time...Why!? I want more.” She jumped towards Sabrina and started eating off her plate. 

“Well, this time you are fatigued rather than just starving yourself, that might have somethi- please don’t eat off someone else’s plate.” Sabrina said nervously and didn’t really mind for the horned woman to eat off her plate but had to draw the line when she went after Mime’s. 

“Why not!? I can do whatever I wa-oooff.” Hekapoo was grabbed mid-rant by Marco and made her sit on his lap. 

“Because it’s rude! And if you don’t remember, you lost any position of authority to act like this undisturbed.” Hekapoo scowled at Marco’s words but calmed down after the latino fed her more food. 

“Can I have more? Please?” Hekapoo said in a cutesy voice, trying to look as innocent as possible.

“Wow! She adapts fast.” Chantelle said with a knowing smile. 

“Yeah, yeah, have all you want, there is plenty more.” Marco kept feeding and Hekapoo gladly accepted more food, to which Marco started to wonder if this was some sort of sick fetish as he has gotten quite used to feeding women. 

_ “See it this way kid, you don’t feed her then those buns currently sitting on your lap might deflate.”  _ Marco could feel his heart throbbing when he was suddenly painfully aware that yes he was feeling Hekapoo’s full derriere on his lap, it disgusted him that he was again agreeing with Greedy Heart...but he agreed nonetheless. 

“You might like something fried, wait a minute, Kelly, You got a fryer in there?” Marco got Hekapoo off his lap and ran to prep the ingredients. Janna for her part was inspecting the pool of water before Brittney and Kelly sat on each side of the witch. 

“Enjoying the feeding frenzy?” Kelly asked, noticing hundreds of the little lobsters and assorted wildlife coming to feed on the carcass. 

“No! A better question is, are the scissors charged already, I wanna get off this place NOW!” Brittney screamed from where she sat. 

“In that order, Mostly and yeah they are ready.” Janna said with a chuckle. 

“So get us out of here!” Screamed Brittney but Kelly intervened with a question. 

“What do you mean mostly?” Kelly said. 

“Yeah feeding frenzy is good and all but look, check this out.” Janna put her hand on the pool and the water started to glow, then with a deep breath the whole tunnel system illuminated with glowing blue light. 

“And that’s how they activated the shield.” Janna said proudly and with a quick look outside everyone confirmed that yes, a glowing blue shield now surrounded the city, Marco stopped promptly the preparation for the fried food, he was catatonic for how horrified he was at the sight. 

_ “Ahahahahahahahaaaa!”  _ Greedy Heart was laughing his ass off right now. 

“Well, let’s pack up and sleep, as soon as we are up we are outie.” Jackie dusted her hands and beamed. 

“I mean it’s not like another one of those creeps is going to show up.” As if on cue a giant groan that shook the entire cave made the entire group go stiff in fear. 

“Or we can hastily throw everything back in Kelly’s hair and run away right now, who prefers that plan?” Jackie said visibly horrified and the group gave an unanimous and terrified ‘aye’. 

And with that Brittney told Janna where to open the portal and by the time it was open everyone jumped on it post-haste with the exception of Janna and Marco. 

Marco was on his knees still stupefied at the sight of the shield, Janna caressed his back in a comforting manner and softly whispered in his ear. 

“It’s not your fault.” And with that Janna guided the catatonic knight to the portal that closed as soon as they were through it… just in time as an enormous shadow began coating the whole city.


	16. Chapter 16

The new world was nothing very special, if you gave it a quick look you would come out thinking it was just a simple thick patch of rainforest. This was worse since it was night time and you couldn’t see more than one or two rows of trees in front of you. 

“Holy shit! What is this?” Brittney screeched at the sight of what looked like a giant cockroach with a plated exoskeleton. 

“I don’t know, Wong, but that looks like dinner.” Jackie appeared behind the Asian woman who was slowly turning green. 

“You ate the equivalent of like a whole fucking cow five minutes ago.” Brittney said wide-eyed and out of breath. 

“And that’s why I said ‘dinner’ not ‘lunch’, here help me catch it.” Jackie said hunching a bit to stalk her prey. 

“Are you sure you sho-?” Brittney’s protest died alongside the roach and it's weird screech as Jackie split it open. 

“Hey, Wong, dinner.” Jackie said sarcastically while holding one half of the still twitching creature in each hand. 

“I’ve never been more sick.” Brittney tried and failed to keep the contents of her stomach in it before running to a bush in order to return the little soup she was able to eat, though her barfing overlapped with another unbearable sound. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!” Higgs screamed while on the floor with a face full of Chantelle’s derriere, her thrashing did her no favors on the ‘scaping Chantelle’s hold’ angle but she was able to free her face enough for some much-needed air… that she used to continue screaming. 

“I just sliced the windpipe of a beast that could have swallowed you and your gargantuan ass in one bite, and still have enough space left for the blonde’s and the furry’s titanic asses too! WHY THE HELL CAN’T I BEAT YOU?!” With Higgs’ desperate scream, Chantelle tightened the hold she had on the knight while humming to herself deep in thought. 

“Hey, I’m detecting a bit of envy, how many of the rejections you suffered went along the lines of ‘sorry, I prefer women that look like they could give birth’?” Chantelle asked with honest curiosity and after a few seconds of silence Higgs turned red, her thrashing doubled and her screams turned into low, guttural, and incessant growls. 

“That many, huh?” Chantelle stifled a giggle with Kelly, Mime, and Sabrina looking from a safe distance with varied mixes of curiosity and amusement all the while. 

Then from the still-open portal came out Janna acting like support for Marco to walk, the man’s arm was around the witch’s shoulder in order to keep his balance. 

“What took you two so long?” Hekapoo said with her voice filled with suspicion but Marco for his part turned green and ran towards the bush that Brittney was currently exiting. 

“Marco?!” Both Kelly and Sabrina followed the Latino with concern. 

“Ok, what happened to him?” Hekapoo asked Janna who just shrugged. 

“Caught a glimpse of whatever it was that made the whole underwater tunnel shake, he said it was quite the ugly sight.” Janna said nonchalantly. 

“And I was born yesterday.” Hekapoo raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. 

“Nah, that was like two or three days ago, I don’t know what that has to do with this but ok.” Janna gave the short, furry woman a sly smirk and left her side to quickly go to Jackie. 

“Hey, that looks like dinner.” Janna said to the blonde policewoman. 

“I know, right.” Jackie replied excitedly as she held up the head half of the roach but Heckapoo just narrowed her eyes towards the witch, meanwhile, Sabrina was patting Marco’s back as he continued to hurl. 

“You ok?” Sabrina said with concern to the now-empty Latino. 

“Yeah, best that I’ve ever been.” Marco said clearly exhausted.

_ “How many people do you think lived in that underwater place?”  _ Greedy Heart said almost giddy inside Marco’s head. 

“AMAZING! I FEEL AMAZING!” Marco screamed, startling both Sabrina and Kelly. 

_ “Brittney did call it a bustling metropolis so as many as Mewni has monsters? Less than that?...More, maybe? Many, many more?”  _ Greedy Heart continued with the same glee. 

“SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!” Marco’s scream was cut short by Kelly throwing him over her shoulder. 

“Better?” Kelly asked with concern. 

“I...I think so.” Marco said, stunned. 

_ “HOLY SHIT!!! WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?!”  _ Greedy Heart appeared in Marco’s chest to scream its panic out.

“You were out of it and screaming, that was the first thing that came to mind, sorry.” Kelly said embarrassed while Mime took out a handkerchief to fan the floored Latino. 

“I’m ok…” Marco took a deep breath. 

“I’m ok, thank you, Kelly, I really needed that.” Marco sat up giving the Woollett a wary smile and his hand to the mime as thanks. 

“Ok guys! Time to set up camp!” Jackie said, clapping as if she was a class teacher. 

“Janna, Doc, Please, the fire.” Jackie said to the two witches. 

“You got it!” Sabrina said with a big smile. 

“Aye, aye, ma’am.” Janna said with a chill tone. 

“Walking weeds!” Sabrina said with enthusiasm and the grass, and various weeds on the ground uprooted themselves and walked using their roots as feet with a noticeable skip to their step with all of them disappearing into the dark forest creating clearing on the floor. 

“There you go.” Kelly placed a hut of dry sticks on the clean patch of ground. 

“Dancing stones!” Sabrina chanted with a sing-song voice and various small rocks started to bounce, twirl and roll to what felt like a funky beat until they arranged themselves into a neat circle around the stick hut. 

“BURN!” Janna said while pointing at the piled wood and it instantly lit aflame. 

“Way to kill the mood.” Said an unimpressed Kelly.

“She enjoys magic a tad too much if you ask me.” Janna said with a nonchalant tone and a shrug. 

“No worries, I did what I wanted to do anyways...but maybe I’ll do a bit more...CHAIR LOGS!” Sabrina said and all around the clear patch a bunch of trees started to spontaneously sprout and became tree stumps in a matter of seconds. 

“Ehehehehe, now they will grow like normal, healthy tree stumps at a regular pace.” Sabrina said giddy and sat down on one of the stumps. 

“You really do enjoy using magic, huh? It makes sense considering how excited you were to find a new magic book back at the library.” Kelly said in a very friendly manner and sitting beside the apprentice witch, Sabrina blushed and became bashful. 

“Yeah...it makes me...feel... well… feel useful.” The shy witch topped the comment off with a small, shy, giggle, then Jackie sat down right in front of her and unceremoniously took off her shirt. 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, doc, but…” Jackie pointed at her still bandaged shoulders “you are plenty useful.” Sabrina blushed deeply and covered her eyes. 

“OK! Ok! I get it, don’t take off your clothes in front of Marco!” Sabrina said ashamed. 

_ “Nah, miss, don’t worry about him, he is fine!”  _ Greedy Heart screamed out because Marco had promptly hidden behind a tree, Sabrina had come to her senses by that point and went to check on the still shirtless Jackie. 

“Yeah, the third rate magician over there could end up killing us with her ‘healing magic’, actual knowledge is very appreciated.” Hekapoo said and gave Janna a piercing and mocking look. 

“Agreed 100%, I know my magic is not all that good at helping people.” Janna said as she took a stick and then stabbed the now motionless half roach to start roasting it. 

“I’m sorry! I forgot to change these because of the commotion in the last dimension!... I don’t think that you need these anymore though, I refuse to believe that you can swim the way you did with injured shoulders.” Sabrina said as she took the bandages from Jakie’s back. 

“That was impressive? Mime over there swam way better while towing two people.” Jackie said pointing at the mime who jumped on to an unoccupied stump and gave a deep bow. 

“Hey, I had to swim with a broken hand, I could have gotten ahead of you two if I could.” Brittney growled defensively and crossed her arms in frustration. 

“And your excuse?” Kelly mockingly asked Janna. 

“I’m way out of shape, like, no condition whatsoever.” Janna said with a relaxed tone while taking a bite out of the roasted roach. 

“At least you are honest about it, tubby.” Higgs said with a smirk on her face. 

“Hey, she isn’t that fat and some men appreciate the love handles.” Chantelle said nonchalantly as she sat beside Higgs, the redhead stared at the big hipped woman with a combination of horror and anger. 

“Meh, give her a year or two and she won’t be able to see her own feet at least, I would bet good money on that.” Hekapoo said offhandedly, the girls had gotten into a good mood, everyone at the campfire was either giggling or smiling by now. 

“Hey! Marco! You can come out, dude! No more scary boobies here!” Jackie now with her shirt on, screamed at the tree the Latino was hiding behind, all that answered her was silence.

“Hey, dude, come out.” Jackie tried again now with everyone silent to hear the response from the only man in the group, but everything kept silent for a few seconds until Marco fell limp to the floor. 

“AMBUSH!” Higgs, Kelly, and Jackie screamed and quickly stood up the second they saw Marco falling. 

As if on cue a flurry of darts rained on the group at the camp-fire, the darts hit Janna, Sabrina, Chantelle, and Mime without much trouble, knocking them all out in mere seconds. 

Kelly, Hekapoo, Higgs, Jackie, and Brittney were able to evade the wave but once on their feet, they saw nothing but more of the darkness surrounding them, the light from the fire, and heard nothing more than the crackling of the fire. 

“Ok guys, stay close to one another, watch each other ba-.” Jackie spoke slowly while carefully analyzing her surroundings, and at a slow pace approached the rest of the conscious girls. 

“FUCK THAT! WHATEVER IS HERE I WI-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Higgs jumped back and intently looked at the top of the trees, that blinded her to whatever attacked her feet and dragged her into the dark. 

In the shadows, a loud ‘Tunk’ was heard and an unconscious Higgs was thrown in front of the girls from the treetops. 

“Great, whatever this is, it knows how to intimidate.” Jackie said huddling together with the rest of the girls that were a bit more receptive to watching each other’s backs. 

“Huddle, each other’s backs, other stuff, got it.” Brittney huddled aggressively to the rest of the group. 

The four remaining girls were now closely huddled and nervously scanned everywhere to find a rustle, a noise, a small sound, anything that could give them the location of the assailant. 

“AHHHHHH!!!” Hekapoo was taken by the hair to the treetops without giving the rest much time to react. 

“Hecka-!” Kelly screamed and looked up to try and reach the furry redhead but that left her open for a single dart to hit her right on the shoulder near her throat.

“Ok! FUCK IT!” Brittney said and charged directly at a tree, colliding with it using her shoulder making it shake violently and that managed to throw three little wooden figures off of it. 

The heiress stared at the figurines with utter confusion until they sprouted diminutive arms and legs, and jumped her in a fraction of a second. 

“Wong!” Jackie ran towards the Asian woman and swatted one of the figurines hard enough that it went flying into a tree, the other two jumped off the woman immediately and all three of them disappeared into the darkness. 

“Hey, Wong!” Jackie shook the woman but she went limp and then the policewoman noticed the dart on the heiress’s shoulder. 

“Ok, little wooden mother fuckers! I saw you now! I know what to expect!” Jackie screamed at the treetops but the wooden people were not careful with their sound anymore, the trees all around the blonde started to rustle loudly. 

“You think something like that will scare me!?” Jackie tried to keep watch above and below but that was not necessary as the treetops continued to rustle, this made the blonde believe that the attack would come from below but a team of little wood figurines jumped down from the treetops on to the policewoman a few of them landing straight on her head making loud ‘BONK’ sounds each.

Jackie felt dizzy but still ready for a scrap, she took a boxing stance her movements woozy, the stance itself unsteady but she was staring down the small mob in front of her...that left her completely oblivious to the single wood figurine swinging a mile a minute on a vine aiming directly at the back of her head.

***A few hours later***

Marco woke up slowly and painfully, his world was blurry and shaky but he could make out the sunlight and the chatter all around him. 

Regaining his senses he finally felt cramped and saw the small wooden cage he was stuffed into he was in a fetal position and still barely fit inside and looking around he understood why. 

His captors were all around him and judging by their size they could stuff about 10 of them in here, no such luck for him but it made sense. 

“Pra! PRA!” One of the little figurines approached and hit the cage. Oh great, language barrier, just what he needed. 

“Chetemal conlapone putema!” The little figurine addressed everyone else while gesturing towards Marco. 

“Hey! Hey!” Marco called to get the attention of the small creatures. 

“INGASUMA!!!” All of the little figurines scattered and hid anywhere they could find but the one in front of Marco, who was pretty much shitting himself despite trying to look strong and brave. 

“Hello there, I’m not dangerous or anything, please, I’m peaceful.” Marco spoke in a soft voice while he showed his palms and tried to make himself even smaller. 

“Chalepu!” The small creature said, his knees shaking and his teeth clattering. 

“This might take a while.” Marco said nervously. 

***Meanwhile***

“ Ok, Putain de balle, fais la queue, je vais mettre ton pied dans ton cul pour que tu puisses goûter ta botte.” Jackie had been screaming her head off for a few minutes now, and she wasn’t alone. 

“Untie me, you little turds! I’ll mash all of you and your stupid masks to paste in five minutes flat!” Brittney continued with the screaming and alongside the rest, she was tied by the wrists to a fallen log, all of them lying next to each other. 

“I WILL FUCK ALL OF YOU UP, YOU SMALL CREEPS, THERE IS NO SHADOWS NO MORE, COME BY THE HUNDREDS I CAN HANDLE ALL OF YOU!!!” Higgs screamed at the top of her lungs bothering the rest of the silent women...with the exception of the silently aggressive one. 

Mime was thrashing and moving her lips as if she was screaming harder than the other three even bumping a bit with Chantelle who was on her right and Heckapoo who was on her left. 

“What do you think she is saying? Fuck is she even saying something?” Hekapoo lifted her head to look at Chantelle who had been paying close attention to the show Mime was putting on, and the secretary blushed a bit. 

“Better for you not to know.” Chantelle said bashfully, on the opposite side of the log were Janna, Kelly, and Sabrina in that order.

“Shouldn’t you be joining in the ruckus?” Janna asked the Woolette who looked at her nervously. 

“All the ruckus is making Nachos a bit antsy...I don’t wanna see what could happen to me if she just decides to kick the door open.” Kelly said with a whisper. 

The small figurines had surrounded the women and were looking at them with fascination and confusion. 

“Nijota.” They were repeating over and over again looking at the girls, particularly the screaming ones that had their attention. 

“They are saying that they can’t understand you girls.” Sabrina said meekly to the rest of the group. 

“...You can understand them?” Jackie stopped dead in her tracks to lift her head and try to look at Sabrina. 

“Eheheh….ehmmm...magic.” Sabrina said embarrassed. 

“Oh shit! That’s right, there is a spell to communicate with people that speak different languages!” Kelly screamed excitedly until her hair felt heavy and started to thrash on its own. 

“Sorry girl, sorry, back to sleep, back to sleep.” Kelly said nervously.

“There is?” A good chunk of the girls questioned. 

“Of course there is.” And the rest just sounded annoyed. 

“Yeah, it only works with the mother tongues from the speakers and it doesn’t work with anim-.” Sabrina began her explanation but Brittney cut her off. 

“Sabrina, honey, What are they fucking saying?” Brittney began with a warm voice that gradually turned annoyed and impatient. 

“Oh...they are confused, going by what they are saying these people were once terrorized by witches, but those banished one day...we already know why they did, but then they saw us doing magic.” Sabrina said seriously. 

“So they are gonna burn us? Well, I knew that one way or another it was gonna end up like this one day.” Janna gave a macabre chuckle. 

“We are not in the most danger, Janna, they don’t see us as dangerous magicians in comparison to their last ones.” Sabrina said matter of factly. 

“What do you mean?” Janna said, knowing full well what her apprentice meant but dreading it nonetheless. 

“Apparently what caught their attention first was that we kind of look like a ‘savage’ that has been on the prowl around here for a few days, but we don’t look ‘enough’ like the savage...Marco though, he does.” Sabrina said slowly and carefully. 

“Ok then, we have someone that can communicate with them, let’s just go about this with care and we may even save Mar-.” Jackie began to whisper but Janna had other plans, the witch shoved her head completely into Kelly’s hair and screamed. 

“Hey, stupid dragon! Marco is in danger!” Kelly’s hair began thrashing violently, so much so that Kelly herself was being made to thrash and bounce to its pace. 

“This isn’t going to be good.” Kelly said dreading what was going to happen but begrudgingly resigning herself to it. 

With one final big bounce Nachos busted out of Kelly’s hair destroying the log in the process. 

“Marcelo, do your thing!” Janna screamed and Marcelo jumped out of her beanie and grew to normal horse size, the black unicorn stomped the ground and a black goo started to spread under the girls. 

“Black geyser!” Janna screamed and the goo exploded upwards with such force that the girls were left flying above the treetops. 

“Vine ropes!” Janna chanted and a bunch of vined tightly tied themselves to Janna’s right hand, wrist, and forearm; those vines managed to snap the bindings the miniatures had put on Janna and the other end of the vines tied themselves to a single ankle of all the other girls. 

“Sab! A hand?!” Janna screamed impatiently and Sabrina nodded. 

“Levitato!” Sabrina screamed and everyone started to fall just slow enough to allow Janna to land safely on Marcelo’s back. 

“Marcelo, follow Nachos!” Janna ordered and the unicorn complied with gusto following the dragon that didn’t even look back after coming out of Kelly’s hair, the figurines were stupefied looking at every little detail of the girl’s escape until one broke out of his stupor, pointing at the retreating group and screaming.

“Sonuna tola!” The single figurine railed all the other ones that cheered and armed themselves to follow Marcelo but the horse proved much too fast for them.

“Good work Janna! Now they think we are dangerous!” Sabrina screamed exasperated while being dragged behind Marcelo like a balloon. 

“If Nachos had taken one more second to crush that stupid log, she could have torn my arms off, you crazy bitch!” Kelly screamed lividly. 

“YOU MAY HAVE PUT MARCO IN MORE DANGER, DUMBASS!” Hekapoo screamed harder than anyone else till now. 

“Great thing that all that doom and gloom either didn’t happen or I will stop it from ever happening, so quit your bitching!” Janna didn’t tear her focus from Nachos even from one second despite every girl screaming their displeasure at her. 

“Let’s untie each other so we have a way to fight back once Miss. Reckless Cunt over here puts us in more danger!” Higgs screamed while taking the bindings off of Chantelle. 

“Wow, what’s with this favoritism?” Chantelle waggled her eyebrows to Higgs. 

“You are a formidable opponent, be happy that I’m willing to admit that.” The ginger knight narrowed her eyes at the big hipped woman who had a faint smile on her face. 

“Ecstatic.” Chantelle said before tearing off the untied ropes around her wrist to begin working on Higgs’s and the girls all around stopped screaming to do the same. 

***With Marco***

“...And that’s why I’m not dangerous.” Marco finished his lengthy explanation. 

“Quemama?” The wooden figurine looked confused. 

_ “I think the off-topic 15-minute rant about using ballet slippers indoors wasn’t necessary.”  _ Greedy Heart said pensively in Marco’s head. 

“Do you mind?” Marco gave an exasperated whisper. 

_ “Do you? You might as well be talking to a brick wall right now.”  _ Greedy Heart sounded mildly disinterested. 

“It’s working, look, he isn’t trembling anymore, I might just need a bit more to soften him up.” Marco tried to reason with the voice in his head. 

_ “Knowing your luck something is gonna come to screw everything up in about 10 minutes.”  _ Now Greedy Heart now was just flat out bored. 

The second the sentient heart said that a roar was heard and with that Nachos took a dive directly on to Marco’s cage destroying the wooden construct, the beast protectively huddled her owner while growling and menacingly assessing the group of miniatures in front of her. 

“Lagartijotototota!!!” All the Smurfs screamed in unison and stood straight ready for a fight. 

_ “Huh...Less than a minute actually, kid, you are getting better! Or is it worse? I don’t know.”  _ Greedy Heart said stunned, amused and confused. 

“Ok figurines-.” Marco turned his head towards the very familiar scream to see Janna riding Marcelo as if she was going to war, the witch untied some vines off of her hand that Marco noticed were also tied to the rest of their little group, all the girls came crashing to the ground as soon as the witch untied the vines and Janna herself dismounted Marcelo with a jump landing in front of the Latino and lighting up her arms with purple flames. 

“Who wants somEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” Janna was cut off by Chantelle, Higgs, and Brittney that tackled her and pinned her to the ground, in that same breath Kelly, Jackie, and Hekapoo moved to calm Nachos down, Mime hurried to help Marco and Sabrina quickly got in front of all the ruckus and got on her knees. 

“Nopasana, Nopasana.” Sabrina desperately pleaded to the mob, and Marco was completely speechless. 

“She learned their language in less than an hour- It’s magic, wasn’t it?” Marco asked as Mime started to untie him. 

“Gee, what made you think that?” Hekapoo said sarcastically. 

“Ok, I get it, stupid question.” Marco said, gladly receiving Mime’s help to stand up, meanwhile, Janna was struggling under her three companions. 

“WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA!?” Screamed Janna with the three girls on top of her. 

“You not fucking it up, that’s the idea!” Higgs said holding both of the witch’s legs. 

“More trouble is the last thing we need, dumbass.” Brittney pretty much hissed while sitting on Janna’s back.

“Yep, thank you for giving us time to plan this while floating behind you by the way.” Chantelle happily chimed in while holding Janna’s wrists. 

The mob listened to the distraught Sabrina attentively and calmed down a bit, they looked at Janna being held, and then at the Latino, and finally at the desperate Sabrina for a bit. 

“Lecreo.” The figurine that had stood at the front the whole time said to the rest of the group who exploded into chatter. 

“Are we in the clear?” Jackie asked Sabrina her hope apparent but the apprentice witch turned to her and hushed the police officer discreetly making Jackie quickly cover her mouth. 

“Vajenle!” The...Leader of the figurines apparently addressed its followers and the chatter ceased.

“Conuevos! YOMERO!” The leader screamed and gave its mask a nice, sonorous slap, all the other masks stood stiff as the leader removed its mask revealing what looked like a small stick figure made of...whatever jellyfish are made of. 

It lacked a head and its body was completely transparent allowing the humans to see its internal organs which included three eyeballs that were freely swimming in the creature’s torso, then all of the wandering eyeballs concentrated on Marco and the leader extended its hand. 

“Com-pa?” Its hand was small, slimy, and lacked fingers. 

“He literally just asked ‘Friendly’?” Sabrina whispered to Marco whose face lit up and gladly took the leader’s hand. 

“COM-PA! COM-PA!” Marco said tears almost falling off his eyes and shaking the leader a bit too vigorously, this made the group gasp and stare making Marco stop. 

“Com-pa… Chingoalborota.” Said a dizzy leader. 

“He said you are friendly but a bit overzealous.” Said Sabrina with a nervous chuckle, that seemed to ease the tension all around as the mob of figurines started cheering and screaming. 

“Yippee and hoora, CAN YOU GET OFF ME NOW!?” Screamed Janna still pinned to the floor by the 3 other women. 

“I kind of don’t want to, very cathartic.” Brittney said with a malicious laugh, Janna just frowned and resigned herself for a few more minutes of this. 

***Later after dawn***

The human group was being led by the leader far from where they were into a cave on the side of a mountain, the entrance was a gaping and very very smooth arc. 

“Wow, these guys really know what they are doing, huh?” Brittney said genuinely amazed by what she was seeing, the cave was not naturally formed, it had been carved out by these small creatures, by what they were seeing the whole mountain had been carved out, and everywhere around them were buildings that had been carved out of the stone. 

The creatures moved around this place without the masks and even their guides stripped themselves from the enormous things when they entered. The humans were a bit encumbered by how narrow the roads were and by how packed the place was, forming into a single line while their guides were able to walk with 3 others on each side. 

“So Sab, mind filling me in? Since apparently, I’m the only one that doesn’t know what you said to the miniatures to get them to calm down.” Janna asked her apprentice, getting a little closer than needed. 

“Ohhh...yeah...I told them that Marco was the one that saved them from the witches of old...and...wellllll...that we are domesticated witches that Marco tamed.” Sabrina got extremely red and her voice got quieter and quieter after every word she said. 

“Ohhhh?” Janna skillfully navigated the narrow street before positioning herself right behind Marco. 

“Should I get on all fours and walk beside you on a leash? Or are you not in the know that I’m your pet right now?” Janna grabbed Marco’s shoulder to get his attention and once the knight looked over to her, the witch had this weird look about her. 

“Yeah, I was told, but I’m not sure if tamed means the same as a pet.” Marco actually gave serious thought to what he just said and ignored Janna’s proposition. Janna saw how the whole situation just went right above his head and her expression soured a bit before she finally took a step back. 

_ “Glad to see that you haven’t lost your touch at acting oblivious in front of Janna.”  _ Greedy Heart sounded exasperated.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Marco muttered to himself. 

The group came to a halt at what looked like a small city square...well for them but the place was roomy enough to fit all ten of them and a small crowd, they were instructed to sit by their guide and after waiting for a few minutes in that position a single creature still with a mask approached them but this one’s mask looked way more ornamented with feathers, some flares with paint, used a similarly ornamented scepter and had an entire entourage behind him. 

“ELMEROMERO!” Their guide presented what looked like to be the chief. 

“Yestosque?” The chief questioned the guide. 

“El poof ñañaras!” Their guide happily gestured towards Marco. 

“...nomames.” the chief’s arms went limp and looked up to the Latino knight in awe, that didn’t last long as the chief recomposed itself to its regal pose and approached Marco. 

“CUENTALAS!” The chief violently pointed at Marco with the scepter and the knight saw him with confusion. 

“He ordered you to tell the story of how you destroyed the magic.” Sabrina whispered to Marco. 

“Oh, well… Here goes nothing.” Marco stood up and for about an hour the city square was filled with silence with the exception of the retelling and Sabrina’s translation. All the creatures present were completely enthralled with the story, mothers covered their kids' eyes when Marco retold being stabbed by a unicorn, kids seeing the knight with awe and admiration when the part where he flipped a unicorn with his bare hands came along, couples hugging tightly with a sigh when Marco described his reencounter with Star. 

_ “So...you gonna tell them that the cleaving was yours and Star’s doing? Wait, wait, there are people here that were affected and you are covering your ass, sorry, I forgot.”  _ Greedy Heart said with a chuckle and Marco ignored it at the best of his ability. 

“Metoca! Hazparo.” The chief took a few steps forward and gestured to Sabrina in the softest voice they’ve heard him using since meeting him. 

“Ahuevo.” Sabrina answered and began translating the chief’s story. 

_ We the Deñique people are a prosperous tribe but that is something new to us. For hundreds of years our people were hunted and enslaved by the ñañaras, those foul beings used us for our skill at carving because our carvings aided them on their sorcery, they hunted us down, used magic to turn us into nothing more than carving machines, we saved some, some were used to exhaustion.  _

_ Thanks to the looming threat of the ñañaras we never were a united group, we scurried to every burrow, rotten log or small cave we could find for almost as long as we have history, but then one day all our brothers that were on the hands of the ñañaras suddenly woke up, they describe just coming back to their senses with no ñañara in sight as if they had all disappeared.  _

_ We waited anxiously for a year waiting for them to return “Maybe they are waiting for us to drop our guard and get a whole bunch of us in one strike.” Was what all of us thought but there were some that were braver and went on the hunt for our old predators and found intact abandoned hideouts, everything was there, their ingredients for potions, their tools for sorcery even the clothes that we are sure where on their backs when we broke off of our spell were discarded on the floor, for years we thought much about this enigma but as luck would have it… the answer came knocking on our door.  _

_ We thank you, great hero, because of you our people have united as one and we have used our skills for the good and progress of our own not just for the benefit of those who would use us.  _

_ But sadly, I’m sure you’ve heard, we have a new enemy, not even a week ago a being that we’ve never seen before appeared in front of a hunting party, our only survivor described how the savage slurped the party out of their masks and... chewed, please savior, please forgive us for mistaking you with the beast but also allow us to request your help directly this time.  _

“That’s what he said.” Sabrina said when the chief finished the story. 

_ “AAAAAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHA, He called you a savior!”  _ Greedy Heart’s voice echoed like a gong in Marco’s head. 

“Thank you chief for your kind words and I accept, you will be rid of whatever that thing is in no time with me.” Marco said in his knightly voice. 

“Mandao rebento!” The chief said enthusiastically. 

“He said that we are having a feast when we come back.” Sabrina said with an appreciative smile. 

“We will leave this place as soon as we are done chief, but we are thankful for the offer.” Marco continued not noticing the looks that Jackie, Higgs, Kelly and Chantelle were giving him. 

“Rebento!” The chief screamed. 

“He said that we are having the feast now then.” Sabrina said meekly. 

“No! Sir, we have food of our own, we don’t want to affect your supplies in any w-.” Marco began but before he could finish let alone before Sabrina’s translation, the chief interjected. 

“REBENTO!” The chief screamed out with excitement. 

“Looks like we are having a feast either way, ehehehe.” Sabrina said meekly. 

“Awwww YEAH!!!” Jackie almost jumped. 

“Please no gross stuff, please no gross stuff, please no gross stuff.” Brittney prayed. 

“Eh, I was getting hungry anyway.” Janna said without much enthusiasm. 

“I’m kind of curious about the food in this place, don’t you?” Chantelle elbowed Mime playfully. 

“Bring it in little ones, I hope you have some good mead!” Higgs pumped her fist in the air with enthusiasm. 

“You drink!?” Asked a scandalized Kelly. 

“Of course! What do I look like? Some young lass that just escaped her mother’s skirt?!” Higgs said angrily and her group looked at her confused. 

“Yeah, yeah, I forgot I’m about 70 years younger than my real age, I WANT A FUCKING DRINK!” Higgs screamed out, making the chief approach Sabrina. 

“EHP?” The chief whispered its question to the apprentice witch. 

“Peda.” Sabrina whispered back, the chief even under its mask noticeably lit up by the proposition. 

“AHUEVO!!!” The chief screamed and every other Deñique there became excited and scurried for food and especially alcohol. 

__

“Yep, we are partying tonight.” Sabrina said with a shrug. 

***A few hours into the feast***

“PEDA!!!” The hunter leader that guided them there (Chaparro was its name as Sabrina pointed out) drunkenly screamed out before passing out on the floor. 

“Piso!!” The chief screamed as he drank another pint, being currently on a drinking match...that now without Chaparro consisted of the chief and Higgs. 

“Come on chief! I can keep going for hours still and you’re already wobbly on your feet.” Higgs mocked her final rival. 

“Tujefa!” The chief screamed out with a laugh. 

Meanwhile, Brittney had to run away and hide the moment she saw that the banquet consisted of a plethora of raw, still live bugs. She had found a building big enough and secluded enough for her to not be bothered by someone else and be cozy enough to not be bothered by her growling stomach. 

The place was pitch black, she found the building in the furthest reaches at the back of the mountain and by the smell and size of the structure, it was probably storage of some kind. Her thoughts were interrupted when the light of a torch illuminated the place and allowed her to see that she was hiding inside a bug cellar. 

“Thanks a million! I promise I won’t make a big dent on the supplies.” Came Jackie’s voice from the entrance. 

“Nijota.” Was the voice of a Deñique that quickly left.

Brittney still in her hiding spot saw how Jackie’s face became radiant as she browsed through the dozens of tubs filled with different types of creepy crawlies and the straw that broke the camel’s back for Brittney was the shudder of pure bliss that Jackie experimented after stuffing her mouth full of those disgusting creatures. 

“Ok, this is it! How can you eat stuff like that!?” Brittney finally stood up from her hiding spot and stared down at the officer with a firm stance and crossed arms, while the blonde just stared at her with a specially long and fat caterpillar dangling from her lips. 

“I’ve seen you put the most disgusting shit in your mouth with a smile since this stupid thing started and I just can’t understand what’s wrong with you!” Brittney desperately screamed at Jackie who faced her with a confused expression, then she loudly slurped down the caterpillar before she gave the Asian woman a cocky smile. 

“What’s there to understand? I’m a growing girl and I had to learn not to be a picky eater after the food shortages in the first years of the cleaving.” Jackie said all that with a shrug and an ‘isn’t it obvious?’ attitude and Brittney’s eyes widened. 

“Wait, what?” Brittney asked with surprise. 

“Yeah, don’t you remember? When the two words merged, travel through sea and sky became almost impossible and the earth transportation wasn’t that much easier, for the first few months it was actually impossible to transport something from one state to another with all the monsters raiding whatever truck they got their greedy paws on and not just food either. If you think I eat weird stuff, those things ate soap, toilet paper, I can’t remember a time in my life when I would have killed for a tampon as much as in those few months.” Jackie said almost nostalgic but Brittney just kept looking at the blonde as if she had just grown a second head. 

“That’s why I became a cop, normal people me included needed help, I thought I could give it to them and so I went through the wringer to do it, we protected people while they were carrying goods from one state to another, saved people from monsters that wandered into the city and even saved people that had been taken away by them.” Jackie finished with a huge smile and Brittney was speechless. 

“What’s up, Wong? Never heard of any of it? Well, I guess if you are on the lap of luxury you might never have really suffered anything that the rest of us did...I guess that would make it hard to understand why I’m happy eating whatever falls on my plate.” Jackie said with an innocent voice and a shrug before leaving the place but stopped before stepping out of the door. 

“How’s that for a lesson in perspective, Miss. Wong?” She said in a mocking tone to the heiress without even turning around and left. 

Brittney stood there frozen for a few seconds before her fist clenched and her brow furrowed, the Asian woman begrudgingly closed the distance between her and what she refused to call food making her stomach grumble.

Brittney gulped loudly and carefully took the smallest, thinnest worm she could pick, she looked at it with discomfort but clenched her eyes and quickly shoved it into her mouth, she began to shake and started to stifle back tears but after gathering all her will she took a bite. 

The insect became paste soon after she began chewing but for as much as she was still shaking and her body was trying its damndest to go into a fetal position she had to admit...it wasn’t half bad. 

She swallowed heavily and took a second worm with a bit more confidence this time, the third was a bit better and the fourth she ate in two hunger filled bites, Brittney started eating without noticing what she was doing just acting on instinct to finally soothe her screaming, empty belly. 

“Wow, dude, I didn’t expect you to come around so quickly but I guess that’s hunger for ya!” Jackie appeared behind the heiress making her jump and stare at the cop as if she had been caught with a pound of coke. 

“Try the grasshoppers, they taste like fried chicken.” Jackie helpfully pointed out but Brittney got red as a tomato and took a deep breath. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” The Asian woman screamed at the top of her lungs. 

Sabrina, Chantelle, Kelly, Mime, and Janna were sitting on a line getting served by Deñiques who got on a rhythm of leaving food, asking one question, getting Sabrina to translate, and then leave to think about the next question, the girls were happy to accept the food and answering the questions the curious creatures had. 

Then Jackie arrived with a swollen, brick red cheek which Chantelle noticed, it prompted a snort from her. 

“Getting the boss to eat bugs didn’t go that well, I take it?” Said Chantelle with a little giggle. 

“Nah, she is eating alright but she needed to save some face, you know how it is.” Jackie said proudly and took a seat in the line the girls had made. 

“That’s nice to hear, that crazy woman would have starved herself to death if she hadn’t let go of her prissy pride.” Chantelle said with subtle relief. 

“And why didn’t you convince her?” Janna asked dispassionately. 

“She keeps me around to follow orders, not to make suggestions.” All emotions were drained from Chatelle when she gave that answer.

“Woah there! chill girl, I was just curious.” Janna said, legitimately surprised. 

“Hey, where is Marco?... And Hekapoo for that matter?” Jackie said, looking around and just seeing Higgs and the chief still on their little competition.

“Marco said he needed some air.” Kelly chimed in. 

“Hekapoo actually ate correctly this time and said she wanted to see the moon.” Sabrina said right after Kelly. 

Everyone accepted the answer and settled down ready for more Deñiques to come and question them...then Janna noticed what was just said. 

“WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!!!” Janna jumped to her feet with an annoyed look on her face. 

***Outside the cave***

_ “You know what I love about all of this? That those little munchkins could be bowing and kissing your feet while singing songs of how great you are...AND YOU WOULD STILL FEEL AS IF YOU MADE THEIR LIFE WORSE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”  _ Greedy Heart just hadn’t stopped since entering this dimension and it was really driving Marco up the wall. 

“Lovely night, don’t you think?” A voice echoed behind Marco, the knight jumped and turned around to find a woman covered in white fur sitting on the floor using the mountainside as a backrest. 

“Ahh! Hekapoo, you scared me.” Marco sighed in relief if said relief was because there was no danger, just H-poo or if it was because the redhead finally managed to shut the voice in his head he couldn’t tell. 

“Ha! That’s what I was trying to do, dumbo!” Hekapoo said as she patted the space beside her but Marco decided to ignore the gesture. 

“So, how did this hurt your conscience?” Hekapoo asked offhandedly. 

“...What are you talking about?” Marco went stiff and asked carefully. 

“Oh! Come on! Dude, we’ve known each other for sixteen years, for as many assumptions I got wrong about you I think I would know when you are upset, so now tell me, how did an entire civilization calling you a savior made you beat yourself up?” Hekapoo said with little patience. 

_ “And that’s why I love you.”  _ Greedy Heart finally said out loud instead of privately with Marco, Hekapoo just snorted. 

“Yeah, whatever dude.” Hekapoo tried to say dismissively but her mood was noticeably lifted. 

“Look, I’m ok, I’m happy the Deñiques think so highly of me…” Marco choked on his words. 

“You just don’t believe they should.” Hekapoo sighed in boredom. making all air escape Marco’s lungs. 

“Who knows?!” Marco covered his face with his hands to hide his blush to no avail that made Hekapoo giggle a bit. 

“Come here, let me cheer you up like I did back when you were trying to earn your scissors.” Hekapoo outstretched her arms in an inviting way. 

“I... can't remember what you are talking about.” Marco’s blush went from mild pink to beet red. 

“Dude, don’t make me look like an overly attached ex, a few millennia have passed for me since we last did this and I still remember, don’t tell me you forgot before ten measly years.” Hekapoo said with big puppy dog eyes and Marco for his part couldn’t resist he just took a deep breath before succumbing. 

Marco laid down in between her open legs and rested his head on her cleavage while hugging her midsection, the woman chuckled and began to stroke his hair affectionately. 

“You big mama’s boy, how is my bosom after so many years?” Hekapoo held him tighter and Marco’s mind began to wander away from the empty underwater civilization for a second. 

Marco had to admit, this was a million times better than he remembered, thanks to her newfound flesh and blood she was warm unlike the last time they did this, there was also this new stuffy smell coming from her cleavage that Marco couldn’t get enough of. 

“You just buried your face further in so I guess it’s all good.” Hekapoo said smugly, making Marco notice that he was indeed getting a bit too comfortable with the embrace. 

“You are so stupid, I really mean it.” Hekapoo said after a sigh, suddenly turning nostalgic, she began to stroke his hair carefully and turned to watch the stars before she continued talking. 

“Look, I get it, you are shaken because of what happened at the last world it’s written all over your face...but we need everyone here to hold strong, I’m absolutely nothing like I used to be Muscles and there is no way I’m going back to who I was but I’m sure you can show me that fearless adventurer once more, come on, for me?” Hekapoo finally turned to see Marco who just burrowed further into her cleavage with a pathetic whimper. 

“Pfft, figures.” Hekapoo spat, greatly annoyed but then her face lit up as an idea arrived.

“...Hey!” Hekapoo patted Marco’s back to get his attention. 

“Huh?” Marco only raised his gaze enough to see Hekapoo. 

“Remember that thing you said to me that one time?” Hekapoo was trying not to burst into laughter and Marco blushed deeply. 

“No...I don’t remember it at all.” Marco sputtered his response. 

_ “He is lying.”  _ Greedy Heart flashed on Marco’s back in full view of the portal master but only enough for it to interject and then disappear again. 

“Is that so?” Hekapoo said smugly and then her face turned playful. 

“Can you say it? Please? Pretty please?” Hekapoo said with an excited smile. 

“No.” Marco protested full of shame and tried not to see the woman in the eye. 

“Pleaseeeeee, I’ll even let you squeeze the twins openly instead of waiting for me to pretend to fall asleep.” Hekapoo said with an enthusiastic and pleading voice. 

“YOU  _ WHAT!?”  _ Both Marco and Greedy Heart screamed in surprise as the knight finally separated from the redhead. 

“That I know that perving on me is a great antidepressant for you...soooo, what do you say?” Hekapoo said expectantly, gently squeezing her chest from the sides with her arms to emphasize her bust. 

Marco’s heart started to pound so hard that the only thing he could hear was the ‘ba-dum’ in his ears, his hands began to shake and his breath became ragged, the knight was trying desperately to see anything that wasn’t her but it seemed like he was being hypnotized by her gaze and when he could somehow tear his eyes away from hers, he ended up intensely staring at her breast. 

_ “Could you give her an answer already? Beating this hard hurts you asshat!!!”  _ Greedy Heart said and it legitimately sounded like it was in distress, forcing Marco to swallow a lump in his throat loudly and he finally spoke. 

“Goodnight...mommy.” Marco said with a shaky voice, turning back to see Hekapoo on the eye, he saw her face contort into a smile that he could not decipher if it was pleased, victorious, mocking, motherly...or all four of those. 

“Now that is a good boy.” Hekapoo raised her arms to gently stroke his cheek for a bit before grabbing his face in order to slowly shove it back in her cleavage. 

“A deal is a deal, sweety, help yourself.” Hekapoo tried to sound motherly but sounded condescending instead, Marco didn’t care, his trembling arms found their way on top of the redhead’s breasts making her shudder. 

“Hey! something is wrong, wait a se-.” Hekapoo’s face became red and filled with horror, she desperately tried to communicate with the knight but the only thing that Marco was hearing right now was a ringing in his ears and so in blissful ignorance and without hesitation he gave a firm squeeze to the twin mounds on his hands. 

“MMMMMHHHHHH!!!” Hekapoo moaned and shoved Marco off of her, dragging the knight back to reality in the process. 

“Wha? What happ-?” Marco said finally back to lucidity and what he saw was a confused, beet red Hekapoo who was panting and shielding her chest. 

“Oh god! I’m sorr-.” Marco started blubbering in a panic but Hekapoo’s clear and direct words cut him off. 

“What the fuck was that?” Hekapoo said with her voice a bit shaky, Marco was now panicking and confused. 

“A squeeze! You said I could! I’m sorry!” Marco screamed out not really knowing what he was saying. 

“You should be! What stupid magic did you use? Do you have that sugar doped unicorn with you?” Hekapoo said clutching her chest tighter and curling up in order not to expose her front to the Latino. 

“Magic? What? When? I’m sorry!” Marco was now just confused. 

“That stupid shock of lightning that started on the back of my neck and crashed into my fucking groin and I’m still feeling your hands all over my tits, what the fuck did you do? That was nothing like those grabs you sneaked on me all those years ago!” Hekapoo screamed curling into herself further and it finally dawned on Marco. 

“Ohhhh, yeah, I forgot, you have nerve endings now.” Marco said relieved and annoyed that he hadn't thought of that sooner. 

“What does that have to do with this?” Hekapoo growled. 

“That you can now feel things.” Marco said as if it was obvious and an actual answer. 

“What? This is nothing like the things I felt when we fought in Kelly’s hair or when I ran way too much on the underwater tunnel or when I was starving.” Hekapoo now stood up and got all up on Marco’s face. 

“Yeah but what you felt then was pain, fatigue, and hunger, this...this is...well...pleasure.” Marco averted his gaze and blushed, Hekapoo’s brow furrowed and she crossed her arms. 

“Explain.” Hekapoo said impatiently. 

“Well pain feels...bad, and pleasure feels, well, you know, good.” Marco said, finding it even harder to look at the woman in front of him. 

“So what are you saying? Is this the thing all mortals go bananas for? Was that what the whole shebang is?” Hekapoo’s impatience didn’t dwindle a bit. 

“Ohhh sweet young child, THAT was just the  _ hors d’oeuvres. _ ” A very familiar voice echoed a few feet away from the two bickering people. 

Both of them tentatively turned to see where the voice came from and found a very angry Janna, a blushing Sabrina, the excited pair of Chantelle and Mime, and a mob of Deñiques. 

“Mosca?” One Deñique asked. 

“She asked if we were interrupting something?” Sabrina said with an embarrassed little laugh. 

“Yeah...are we?” Janna said menacingly to Hekapoo the latter of which narrowed her eyes and approached slowly. 

“You are actually, you should just turn back and let us continue.” Hekapoo said with a smug and menacing voice right to Janna’s face but the witch didn’t back down a bit and gave the redhead a smirk, Hekapoo’s expression became confused in a second, and then she heard a squeal behind her and felt a tap on her shoulder. 

Hekapoo turned around to see both Chantelle and Mime looking at her expectantly and excitedly. 

“Wha-.” Hekapoo could barely get a word out before the two starry-eyed women closed the space between them and her face to what could be considered very uncomfortable. 

“Sorry for killing the mood, I don’t think you can get anything off the ground tonight but...what did you two do? You two had clothes still so my guess you two were just starting the engines.” Chantelle said expectantly and Mime nodded a bit too much. 

“Didn’t you say it was just a hors something?” Hekapoo said nervously and backed away slowly. 

“Yes I did, but I’m just guessing, I need deets girl, sweet, juicy, scrumptious details!” Chantelle said with too much enthusiasm and Mime closed the distance between her and Hekapoo once again to waggle her eyebrows at the redhead. 

“Look, you two, I don’t even know what happened, ok?” Hekapoo lost all her patience and said that with decision and finality thinking that it was all she needed to finish the conversation and she thought that it worked until both girls squealed. 

“That means we need to give you the whole lecture!” The gossipy pair saw each other with unmatched excitement to then turn to Hekapoo who actually felt fear when she saw the two giddy women and tried to turn around and run away. 

“Come with us! We need some privacy!” Chantelle said, grabbing the redhead’s wrists with a surprisingly strong grip stopping Hekapoo in her tracks and allowing Mime to put her hands on the furred woman’s back to start pushing. 

“No! Wait! HELP!” Hekapoo screamed as she was being forcibly dragged away by the pair and turning her gaze back she saw Janna with a smug, victorious smile waving at her good-bye. 

“YOU BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!!!” Was all that Hekapoo could muster out before being dragged away from earshot earning a malicious chuckle from Janna. 

“Soooo… what was that? Is she just the old flame I never knew about?” Janna asked Marco with her back turned on him. 

“Janna...I’ve repeated this so many times lately that it’s not even funny, I have Star!” Marco said matter of fact completely missing Janna’s hands clenching on her arms the second he uttered his girlfriend’s name. 

“I don’t know what this thing.” Marco pointed at his chest “is doing to me but I will find a way to get rid of it, and then I will be the person that I have to be.” Marco said with regret apparent in his voice. 

“Oh, I see, I’m sorry then.” Janna said with pain in her voice and walked away without even sparing a glance to the knight. 

“Ehmmmm...I’ll be going then.” Sabrina awkwardly stammered out and urged the Deñiques to follow her as she left. 

“Surtota.” A single Deñique spoke. 

“I wouldn’t call that lucky.” Sabrina said with a sad whisper… that Marco managed to hear anyways. 

_ “Good thing we share a back because if my back breaks from carrying the blame of all your mistakes then yours does too.”  _ Greedy Heart said plainly. 

“BECAUSE IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!” Marco screamed to the sky. 

_ “Yeah, yeah, I know you aren’t going to budge right now, so going back to something we can agree is at least PARTLY your fault, how was that underwater civilization? Hey! Let’s discuss that good ol’ Ñañara genocide now that we are at it!”  _ Greedy Heart continued with a giddiness that could have matched Mime and Chantelle a while ago. 

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Marco kept screaming into the night for a while.

***The next Mor...Noon***

“Hunting trip!” Jackie said enthusiastically with Chaparro sitting on her shoulder with its mask back on and the miniature himself was also carrying a huge bag for his size. 

“Keep your voice down, will ya?... My head is pounding.” Higgs said shielding her eyes from the sun.

“Hope the alcohol was worth it.” Sabrina said as if she was a mother scolding her child. 

“Hell yeah, it was!” Higgs said along with her first smile and the hundredth headache of the day. 

Hekapoo had enormous bags under her eyes and was nodding off, Marco noticed this and approached her. 

“Ehmmm...rough night?” Marco asked awkwardly. 

“Yes! But on the plus side, I have the A to Z as to what ‘pleasure’ is and how to provoque and experience it.” Hekapoo said, annoyed. 

“They didn’t-.” Marco blushed and jumped to conclusions. 

“Only theory, not hands-on experience, get your mind out of the gutter.” Hekapoo said, almost offended. 

“Did they teach you that too?” Marco asked, curious and Hekapoo shuddered. 

“Yeah...let’s just drop the subject, ok?” Hekapoo said exhaustedly.

“Yeah, agreed.” Marco said, looking away from Hekapoo, letting him catch Janna looking utterly disappointed and the knight felt as if he had begun to choke. 

_ “*Yawn* I don’t know why you are feeling guilty now, that’s her usual expression when she looks at you by now.”  _ Greedy Heart said groggily. 

“So what’s the plan, Chaparro?” Jackie said and Sabrina hurriedly translated. 

“He said that he knows where the savage is… it’s just that it seems impossible to approach the place.” Sabrina said to Jackie who nodded and continued. 

“Sounds like a challenge, lead the way, little dude!” Jackie gestured towards the road and Chaparro understood because he climbed down Jackie’s shoulder and gestured the rest to follow. 

“Amot.” But before starting the trip Chaparro gave the bag he was carrying to Sabrina. 

“For me?” Sabrina opened the bag and found about a dozen little wood carvings. 

“Ñañaras...” Chaparro explained away the use of what he just gave Sabrina. 

“Awww, thank you, I’m sure they’ll come in handy.” Sabrina clutched the bag close to her heart. 

“A la carga!” Chaparro ran towards wherever it was they were supposed to go. 

“I swear to god that if this whole ‘good samaritan’ shit becomes a habit I will learn how to use those stupid scissors and steal them to go back home alone.” Brittney grumbled. 

They kept on the trail for a few minutes with the mountain still very visible behind their backs, walking at a steady pace they heard a slight *click* and a pitfall opened right beneath Jackie who was at the front of the group. 

“OK.... guys, whatever this savage is… I can’t call it a savage anymore.” Jackie said, stretching herself as long as she could to stop herself from falling into the wood spikes at the bottom of the pit. 

“YA-ME JODI!!! AAAAHHHH!!!” Chaparro screamed while hanging for dear life on Jackie’s teal-colored strand of hair. 

“Ok girls, it looks like we entered a mine fie-*Click*.” Marco said before being interrupted by another sound, turning around he saw a very apologetic looking Mime. 

“Look out!” Chantelle desperately said when she noticed the log swinging full speed towards Mime but before she could even take a step, Kelly had shoved the mime out of the way and sliced the log in half using a sword her own size. 

“Haven’t seen that sword in a while… I’m glad I’m not it’s target this time.” Sabrina said with pure relief. 

“Best in the busin-*Click*.” Kelly began to say pridefully but was interrupted by another sound this time turning around to see a scared mime with her hand on what appeared to be a tripwire. 

“Damn it!” Everyone swore they heard the voice of a blues singer come out of Mime’s mouth but the curious event was quickly forgotten when they saw the boulder falling right on top of her, forcing the skinny girl to brace for impact. 

“You ok?” Hekapoo’s voice made Mime relax and open her tightly shut eyes, looking around her she saw the boulder cleanly cut in half and a scissor blade on each of the redhead’s hands. 

“You know, I never understood all the craze over big sizes, if it gets the job done and handles well, does it really matter how compact the package is?” Hekapoo gave a playful look to Kelly’s sword after saying that and Kelly answered with a playful eye roll. 

“Preach, sister! PREACH!” Chantelle screamed as she gratefully went to hug Hekapoo, an action that Mime copied post haste. 

“Yeah, yeah, love you too, girls.” Hekapoo said in a quiet nervous voice and then she turned to Janna and mouthed words without making a sound and if Janna was correct she said  _ “Don’t leave me alone with these two again, please.”  _ and the witch had to admit, that lifted her mood quite a bit. 

“Guys, while I love to hear you are all getting along, CAN SOMEONE HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE?!” Jackie screamed angrily from the hole. 

“On it.” Marco said, kneeling beside the hole and grabbing Jackie by her wrists. 

“Ok at the count of three. One. Two. Thr-.” Marco said helpfully to Jackie. 

“Levitato.” Sabrina said and Marco, Jackie, and Chaparro were lifted into the air and gently moved towards Sabrina. 

“Or we can do this.” Sabrina said with a nice smile adorning her face. 

“Awesome doc, I hope next time I don’t have to wait so much for the help.” Jackie said with a smile and a sigh of relief. 

“Next time will be instantaneous, I promise.” Sabrina said with a solemn nod. 

“So this is why you guys can’t approach, huh?” Jackie said to Chaparro and Sabrina resumed her translating duties. 

“Apren ARRR, grandototote!” Chaparro said desperately. 

“He said that his people learned how to ambush by surviving ambushes by the savage and that he has been expanding his territory, these traps stretch further away than what Chaparro remembers.” Sabrina said. 

“Are you telling me the utter humiliation we suffered was you just copying someone that does it better? Fuck this, let’s go back and just let the scissors to ch-*Click*AAAAAARRRGEEEE!” Brittney said before stepping on another trap that left her suspended on a tree by one leg.

“Well, it looks like we avoided some in our way here without knowing. So who knows how deep we are into the minefield.” Jackie said to Brittney’s upside-down face. 

“Just get me down.” Brittney said with her brow furrowed and her voice a low growl. 

“Sure thing, Wong, How were the grasshoppers by the way?” Jackie said with a laugh as she cut down the rope on the heiress's ankle and helped her down, Brittney just responded with a scowl and a growl. 

“What’s wrong Wong? We probably already are half of the way there, why not go all the way?” Jackie said with a shrug. 

“Guys, we have a problem, a very lacking in self-control problem.” Sabrina said pointing at a green Higgs that was covering her mouth. 

“Don’t you dare, bitch!” Brittney’s attention was quickly changed from the mocking cop to the hangover warrior. 

Higgs's cheeks became filled with what was obviously vomit and turned on her heel to run towards anywhere far from there… with a sonorous orchestra of *Click*Click*Click* behind her. 

“DAMN IT!” The group said in chorus. 

The whole group went after the sick woman that went activating any trap that was in her way and somehow was evading all of them by simply outrunning each and every one of them. 

“Is this what she can do when she actually runs away?” Said a frustrated Brittney jumping over a pit. 

“Is she this fast all the time? Or is it just the hangover?” Jackie chuckled as she dodged a good dozen darts that were going her way. 

“Whatever it is, it’s great that she is being helpful for once.” Kelly said, cutting yet another swinging log. 

“For as much as I hate to admit it, we would have died in that underwater tunnel without -SHIT- her.” Marco said while suddenly stopping to allow a boulder to fall in front of him. 

“Awwww, softening up to her, are you? I get it though, her unending anger and baseless pride are starting to feel endearing even.” Chantelle said while playing with the ropes that should have hanged Higgs on the trees as she ran. 

“She is stopping!” Sabrina said and Higgs finally kneeled and emptied her stomach. With another click sound, another boulder began falling on the preoccupied ginger, and Hekapoo without missing a beat cleanly cut that one in half too. 

“Yeah, don’t worry, I can save your ass whenever you feel like it, I love to help someone who lost all respect for me the second they learned the MHC is no longer a thing.” Hekapoo said sarcastically. 

“Thanks, I’ll keep it in min-BLEURRGGGGGHHHH” Higgs stopped vomiting for a second to respond with her own sarcasm before continuing to blow chunks. 

“Hey *Pant* Ghasper the furry ghost *Wheeze*.” Janna said at the tail end of the line barely arriving by now, the girl was completely exhausted and sweaty. 

“Be ready to pay up, if you people keep forcing me to run like this *Wheeze* you are gonna lose that stupid bet *Pant* I’m gonna get hotter than you in no time.” Janna smirked while still catching her breath. 

“Ok, mayyyybe I’ll lose the bet, but try to keep your goals realistic, will ya?” Hekapoo said with a smug expression. 

“Hey! Where is Chaparro!” Jackie said. 

“YA VALI!” The group heard Chaparro’s screams and then they were suddenly silenced. 

“Not this again!” Brittney said looking around and not seeing absolutely anything nor anyone. 

“Right here!” A new voice rang on the top of their heads and turning their gazes up they saw a man in his 40’s wearing the robes of Mina’s cult a receding hairline and graying hair adorned the top of his head, he had a prominent nose and ears but his most striking feature was his humongous and calloused hands. 

“Not gonna eat this? They are great, they taste like oysters.” The man said holding Chaparro by the mask, his hand grasping it with ease. 

“No! And you better give him back you-.” Marco was reading himself for a fight but was interrupted. 

“Mr. Dallas? What are you doing here? And why are you using Mina's pack of crazies uniform?” Jackie screamed at the newcomer, her voice filled with disbelief and disappointment. 

“Ohh, little Jackie? So you were in that battle too? But enough of questions with obvious answers.” The man took a step forward to fall down the tree landing on his feet. 

“Now for hard questions, where you just dropped here like me, or did you somehow move between dimensions?” The man clenched Chaparro’s mask so hard that it cracked slightly making the little creature start to thrash in panic. 

“HIYAAAA!” Marco didn’t bother to answer and just charged ahead but Dallas wasn’t faced. Before Marco could do anything Dallas flung Chaparro to his face, the knight tried to catch the small hunter but the older man used the knight’s distraction to throw a punch to the Latino’s gut. 

“Levitato!” Sabrina was able to cast a spell to get both Chaparro and Marco out of the way, making Dallas hit a tree trunk that was left with a fist-shaped hole in it. After the failed attempt Dallas jumped to the top of the trees. 

“Why are you even on Mina's side? You are just a farmer! A farmer that wanted to help people! You were one of the few that volunteered to accompany us to transport food!” Jackie screamed. 

“That’s right little Jackie, I want to help… And under all that crazy so does Mina.” Dalla’s soft voice echoed on top of them. 

“Are you kidding me?!” Jackie was now livid. 

“Rock worm!” Janna chanted and the group felt a little tremor beneath the ground followed immediately by a gigantic worm made of stone going straight for the top of the trees, only to suddenly stop and begin cracking until a rain of pebbles fell to the ground. 

“I forgot Jonathan fucking trained all of these guys.” Janna exclaimed exasperated only for Dallas to fall off the tree right behind her. 

“Language.” Dallas said, hitting Janna’s side with a roundhouse kick launching the witch towards a tree knocking her out, the older man for his part disappeared into the trees again. 

“This guy is something else, huh?” Kelly said and Dallas appeared right in front of her. 

“Much obliged.” Dallas said before head butting the Woollet but to his surprise, the green-haired girl grabbed him by the robe. 

“Not even half of what your trainer can do though.” Kelly said before a headbutt of her own making the older man reel back. 

“Yeah, no discussion there missy.” Dallas said clutching his forehead and taking a step making a *Click* sound, and with that, another log shot towards Kelly’s back. 

The Woollet turned around to cut the log but with her back turned she felt a hard kick to her back that threw her straight into the log’s path hitting her square in the stomach. 

After that Jackie didn’t hesitate and charged for Dallas on a boxing stance and threw a punch to Dallas's chin launching him flying backward, Jackie wasted no time to chase after but another pitfall opened under her. 

Marco Jumped the pitfall to try and land a flying kick but Dallas grabbed him mid-air and slammed him into the ground. 

“Levitato!” With that chant by Sabrina, Jackie was flying above the pitfall she fell on and then opted to chase after Dallas while flying but the older man took another step making another log go straight for Jackie who was barely able to protect her face from the impact. 

Hekapoo and Brittney attacked one from the front and one from the side but before they reached the man he had already jumped on to the trees again making both women come to a screeching halt. 

They stood back to back carefully minding their surroundings looking for the man but another *Click* sound broke their concentration to notice another boulder falling on top of them but it was disposed of just like all the others by Hekapoo. 

“Getting really tired of this game grandpa!” Hekapoo screamed at the top of the trees. 

“Don’t mind me missy.” Dallas’s voice echoed along with a *Click* sound that sent another log their way, another trap that Hekapoo effortlessly hacked through but after the swing to the log Dallas fell right on top of Hekapoo’s head bringing her down. 

As a jerk reaction, Brittney threw a punch that Dallas caught and threw her over his shoulder sending her to the open pitfall. 

“Levitato!” Sabrina chanted saving Brittney from the pitfall. 

“Good day, sir.” Chantelle said to the older man with her best business smile, she had approached the man slowly and carefully all this time in order to avoid traps. 

“Good day, child.” Dallas said with a warm voice despite painting lightly. 

“Getting winded, sir? You should watch how much strain you put on your body, especially at your age.” Chantelle said with similar warmth in her tone, still approaching at a snail’s pace. 

“Naw, don’t worry about these old bones missy, besides it would be way worse if I just gave up to age, don’t you think?” The man puffed his chest with pride and Chantelle gave a cute girly giggle. 

“I guess that makes sense.” Chantelle said now an inch away from the man, then her smile suddenly disappeared to make way for her emotionless face. 

“We know how to go back to our world.” Chantelle said quickly and matter of fact, Dallas’s eyes went as wide as plates and gasped in surprise. 

“Beg pardon?” Was all that Dallas could say before Chantelle grabbed him and threw him to the ground to put him in a chokehold. 

“Good trick, girlie.” Dallas said through the choke and began to wiggle his way out of the hold, making Chantelle to hurriedly adjust their positions. 

“Girls! Help! I can’t hold him forever!” Chantelle screamed and various of her companions rushed to hold the man down. 

“WE DO KNOW HOW TO GO BACK HOME!” Jackie who was currently restraining the man’s legs screamed, with that Dallas stopped fighting. 

“Uncle! Uncle!” The older man said tapping the ground and everyone let go of him. 

“Is that true, girlie?” The older man said while massaging his neck. 

“It is Sir, Janna has been opening portals left and right lately, you were brought here by one of them, you could vouch for her skills.” Jackie said with her arms crossed and a scowl. 

“I see… Is there a way I can accompany you then?” Dallas said on his knees with his hands in the air. 

“No sir. You are not getting the gist of things, I’m a cop, you are coming back with us whether you like it or not.” Jackie bent down to be eye level with the man and saw him with the most menacing glare she could muster. 

“Yes ma’am, I’m cooperating.” Dallas said while hanging his head low in a sign of surrender. 

“Wait, No, nononononono, we don’t know what this fuck could do to us on the trip, we are not dealing with someone this dangerous through all the way we still have left.” Brittney put her feet down. 

“You aren’t getting it either, Wong, I’M A COP, in what language do I have to say it? I NEED to bring him back with us.” Jackie painted her line on the sand as well. 

“For what? A stupid trial? Jail? Leave him here! This place will keep him more secure than any other prison.” Brittney argued. 

“That’s not the point and you heard him, he eats Deñiques, he is a danger for the locals here.” Jackie spat back. 

“Officer. Thomas, I will agree with my boss, he is far too dangerous for us to transport and if you think about the safety of civilians back home, once again I will agree that he is more secure here where he can’t harm no one else and let us not forget that this level of compliance is raising all kinds of alarms.” Chantelle intervened going back to her secretary mode. 

“HE WILL HURT DEÑIQUES!!! They fed us, they gave us a place to stay, so you pair of ungrateful bitches better get in line or I will have to file this under obstruction of justice.” Jackie was now in a fighting stance but Chantelle took a step forward anyway. 

“Officer. Thomas, considering you said you know the man and how affected you were by his status as a Mina supporter I will say that your emotions might be compromised, that is not the way an officer should operate.” Chantelle said matter of fact, her voice, and posture firm. 

“Ohhh, we are playing the professional game now you cu-.” The confrontation was ready to escalate but an *Ahem* broke the girls apart. 

“Listen well missies, I’m cooperating because I want to go back home, but if the plan is leaving me here, then I guess round two is in ord-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.” Dallas was standing up slowly and menacingly but he was suddenly sucked up as if an enormous vacuum had done so. 

A few feet behind the incident was Sabrina holding a little wooden vial that she hurried to seal off with a cork once that was finished Sabrina’s face phased through surprise, wonder, excitement and fear a few times to finally take a deep breath and turn to the feuding trio with a serious face. 

“If he is here he is not dangerous and I can release him once we are back home. Are we good now?” Sabrina said solemnly. 

“...Yeah… good job doc.” Jackie said genuinely impressed. 

“... Just make sure to keep that guy in that vial.” Brittney said with what she would never admit was relief. 

“Sabrina, Where did you learn to do that if I may ask?” Chantelle said, a bit stunned by the display.

“Oh, Chaparro gave me a bag full of these vials, he told me that the ñañaras used them to carry stuff and I just thought that maybe it could work on a person.” Sabrina slowly went back to being shy while giving that response. 

“You sure that won’t kill him?” That little observation from Kelly made every last drop of color from Sabrina’s face fade but that didn’t last long as the vial started to shake. 

“Nah, This place is kinda homely actually, a hole for air and a little food, and I’ll be right as rain in here.” Dallas’s voice echoed through the vial making Sabrina give a sigh of relief. 

“Excellent compromise missy glad you were here.” Dallas’s voice once again echoed, making Sabrina blush furiously. 

“Ok, so we are done here? Can we go away now? Please?” Brittney said angrily. 

“Can you get off my fucking back for one day rich girl?” Screamed Janna barely waking up and it was obvious she had at least a headache. 

“Hey, we need to get Chaparro back first.” Jackie said, holding Chaparro up. 

“ESTOYBIEN!” Chaparro screamed with singular delight. 

“There is a path of disabled traps so it shouldn’t be too bad.” Jackie said pointing to the path where there were trees filled with darts, broken logs, rocks split in half and various open pitfalls. 

“Here I’ll even carry Higgs.” Jackie said pointing at Higgs who was barfing again “Yup, she needs a glass of water and to be carried all the way back to the mountain.” Said Jackie, everyone nodded in agreement and all with a different amount of enthusiasm. 

***Back at the mountain***

“And there we go little dude, happy you chose to ride on Jackie express.” Jackie told Chaparro who was sitting on top of her head, the little Deñique jumped off and began hurrying back to the mountain but before arriving he turned around and made a bow. 

“GRACIAS!” Chaparro waved goodbye and returned to the mountain. 

“OK Higgs, time for some water.” Sabrina said, holding a cup to Higgs’s lips as the ginger was being carried on Jackie’s back. 

“Did you guys have to wait until we were back here?” Higgs said with a strained voice as Jackie gently put her down. 

“All right rich girl time to get your wish granted, hehehe.” Janna said with a chuckle now fully awake. 

“What, another plate of caterpillars? She was enjoying those!” Jackie said with a mocking tone. 

“Will you shut up you cunt? Contrary to you I have some dignity to uphold.” Brittney said with the most confrontational voice she's used so far.

“Awww, big, strong rich girl is too afwaid to admit bugs scawe her.” Jackie mocked with a baby voice. 

“I’m not afraid of bu-.” Brittney was ready for another shouting match but it was interrupted by Janna. 

“Portal open.” Janna said in front of a new kind of greenish portal. 

“Don’t worry Wong, it’s my job to protect people no matter how douchey so I’ll protect you of all the big, scary bugs out there.” Jackie continued to mock Brittney this time getting in the rich girl’s personal space while moving her fingers to imitate bugs, this time Brittney’s whole response was a scowl and a growl. 

“So I’ll do the honors and go first to make sure it’s not something beyond you, Wong, no need to thank me.” Jackie disappeared into the portal with a proud walk, a confident stride, and a mocking smile.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” Jackie’s scream could be heard from the other side of the portal and before anyone could react she came running out of the portal and tackling Marco into the ground. 

“Is everything ok?” Marco asked lifting the cop’s face a bit to look at her and it was a ghastly sight, she was pale, her eyes wide, her pupils dilated, along with a horrendous and forced nervous smile. 

“OK! Everything ok! All peachy!” She screamed, her breathing was ragged and she was trembling as she clings tightly to Marco. 

Brittney’s face turned into a wicked smile. 

“Oh! Officer Thomas! What great news that this new world is not beyond me, thanks for your service, let's go girls.” Brittney’s walk toward the portal screamed ‘gloating’ in every step. 

“This portal is gonna close soon, better to just go.” Janna said dispassionately while looking at Marco on the floor holding Jackie before entering the portal. 

“You heard her Jackie, I’m sorry.” Marco stood up with Jackie still attached to his chest to go to the portal and the blonde started to lightly sob. 

“But I don’t want to go.” Jackie managed one last coherent sound before entering the portal.


	17. Chapter 17

Marco was amazed by Jackie’s reaction to this world but after stepping out of the portal he could somewhat understand it. 

They were surrounded by a big patch of ruins consisting of houses that had already been rendered useless by the passage of time and a bit further was a very beat down looking gigantic mansion but that one was still standing, the biggest structure was surrounded by a graveyard filled with dead greenery, this whole scenery was sitting at the top of a great plateau and looking around there were in what looked like a field of those and on top of their heads the sky was black as a thunderstorm raged around the group. 

“Really,  _ Officer _ Thomas? THIS!? Ahahahaha.” Brittney could not hold her mocking laughter at seeing what had the woman that caused her so much grief trembling like a little scared kid. 

“I agree, you stood up to that centipede in a heartbeat, how can this make you shake like a leaf?” Higgs asked outraged. 

*Muffled screaming* Jackie screamed to Marco’s chest while still clinging tightly to him. 

“I think she told you to shut up.” Marco said protectively holding the terrified woman. 

“This actually surprises me, haven’t you’ve been friends with Janna since kindergarten? You should have had contact with this kind of stuff since early childhood.” Chantelle pondered the reason for Jackie’s fear, but the officer jumped out of Marco’s embrace to look at the hippy woman with red, unfocused eyes. 

“Why do you think I’m afraid of this stuff in the first place?” She screamed out while pointing at the bored witch behind her. 

“I don’t know what you are afraid of right now, this has nothing on our little venture back in second grade.” Janna gave a light chuckle but a shiver visibly crawled down Jackie’s spine just at the thought of the event her oldest friend conjured in her mind, making her to hurriedly cling to Marco’s chest once again. 

“Why am I not surprised?” Marco gave Janna a look of pure disappointment but the witch just gave him an innocent smile and a shrug. 

“Didn’t you two said you used to break into abandoned buildings to smoke weed? What’s the difference between those buildings and...well this?” Sabrina said with a mystified look while examining her surroundings. 

“Are you kidding me?! You aren’t afraid of this, doc? You are afraid of literally everything else!” Was Jackie’s distraught scream. 

“Believe me, Sab, it was a great big headache to find a ‘not-haunted-looking’ abandoned building, but if I remember that 50 feet long list correctly just the graveyard makes it a good ol’ nope.” Janna said massaging the sides of her head. 

“OHHH! NO! You don’t! You didn’t laugh at all those times I almost pissed myself because of you to act annoyed now!” *CRACK* “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Jackie tried to reprimand Janna but a sudden noise made her cling harder to Marco, she was now uncontrollably trembling and sobbing. 

“I don’t like it here, I hate it here.” Jackie managed to squeak out between sobs with a shaky voice, Marco held her protectively and turned to the rest of the group with pleading eyes. 

“I guess that taking refuge in the mansion is not an option, huh?” Hekapoo said arms crossed and her expression compassionate towards the sobbing blonde. 

“How about taking refuge on Kelly’s ha-.” Sabrina began to say her idea but before even finishing the thought Jackie had already jumped off of Marco and made a beeline to Kelly’s hair quickly disappearing into it. 

“Horrible idea to let Jackie into Kelly’s hair.” Janna said matter of fact, making Mime approach her with a confused look.

“She is already freaking out, and now that she is alone anything that so much as goes thud wil-.” Janna was cut off by a loud screech coming from Kelly’s hair, the hair in question violently wiggled around before Jackie busted out of there riding Nachos but the dragon made a sudden stop, launching the officer off of her back. 

“WHAT THE HE-?!” Jackie said livid but as she was getting up the blonde saw the dragon cowering. 

“Oh no, nonononono, sorry, I’m so sorry, girl.” Jackie said in a panic as she approached Nachos to try and comfort her, Marco and Kelly followed suit. 

“Yeah, I know it’s kind of obvious by now but Nachos...not the biggest fan of lightning.” Marco sounded hesitant.

“I’m so sorry, I almost put you in harm’s way just because I’m too chicken to face my fears.” Jackie took a deep breath and stood up with a resolute look on her face. 

“Ok guys, climbing down is a no go with this storm and we need shelter, that mansion is our safest bet, so let’s go.” Jackie said her voice firm and eyes focused, Mime gave her an enthusiastic round of applause and the rest gave a nod of approval...except. 

“That would have been way more convincing without the shaky knees.” Brittney said with a hearty laugh. 

“Baby steps, you cunty chink!” Jackie screamed at the heiress’s face. 

“Uhh, racial slurs, someone doesn’t know what else to say.” Brittney said with a cocky smile. 

The group approached the mansion at a slow pace since Jackie had to cower and hide after every little sound but she also had to be the one at the lead. Mime and Marco were right behind her giving the blonde support the former with pats on the back and the latter with encouraging words, the rest were playing a constant game of stop and go with differing levels of patience but Brittney was the only one that was fuming. 

“And after a hundred years we finally arrive at our destination!” Brittney said, kicking down the front door to everyone’s annoyance. 

The place was dusty, musty, and filled with cobwebs but then again just like the building itself, the insides were still standing and looked very usable after some elbow grease that is. 

“Isn’t it great? I just saved us a few hours by not letting the little yellow officer muster the courage to open the door.” Brittney haughtily said as she plopped down on a chair causing a dust cloud to fly all over her. 

“ARE YOU CALLING ME YELLOW?!” The anger seemed to evaporate all of Jackie’s fear in one fell swoop. 

“Are we going back to the racial slurs, officer? I’m gonna love reporting that when we get back home.” Brittney’s face sported a smug smile. 

“How about I ju-.” *CRACK* “EEEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!!!” Jackie shot up and jumped into Brittney’s arms and there they stood with the heiress carrying the scared officer bridal style. 

“We are never talking about this again.” Said the annoyed Asian.

“You are the one that caught me.” Said the embarrassed officer, both girls were glaring at each other now, making the rest of the group keep quiet. 

“Alright let’s calm down, ok?” Marco tried to defuse the situation and approached the two slowly, Mime accompanied him with a disarming smile and showing her palms. All of them were so focused on the situation at hand that they didn’t notice the slight cracking sounds beneath them.

“How about fuck all of you?” Brittney still with her cocky smile and retrieved her arms from below Jackie. 

“Oh, you bitch!” Jackie said as she approached the floor at a rapid rate but to everyone’s surprise, her descent didn’t stop at the floor as the old rotten wood planks gave away to a deep and wide hole that was able to swallow Brittney, Marco, and Mime as well. 

All of them fell through a dark tunnel finally falling into a minecart that was sitting on top of a steep slope. 

“Wow...thank goodness that the cart had the breaks on.” Marco said with an immeasurable relief. And with that, the cart creaked and began to go down the slope. 

“YOU HAD TO OPEN YOUR MOOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” Brittney and Jackie screamed as they went further and further into the dark mine. 

“HOLY SHIT! WE HAVE TO GO AFTER THEM!” Kelly, Sabrina, and Janna all said in unison. 

“Deary me! I knew that the old floor was about to cave in.” a new voice came from behind the group that was still in the mansion. 

***IN THE MINE***

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!” The four people (Three screamed and one pantomimed actually) in the car cried as they all clung tightly to each other until the cart came to a sudden stop, the group panted a bit and examined the darkness for a bit, not knowing what to do. 

“...I have a flashlight.” Jackie said, regaining his breath through his sore throat. 

“Gimme that!” Brittney wheezed out as she patted around until she found the flashlight that the blonde had. 

With the tool finally on her hand, Brittney flashed it around finding that behind them was a brittle old rail over an extremely dark drop which the Asian tested by kicking a rock off the edge and after a few seconds, there was no sound. 

“Ok assholes, there is one way to go, and is going deeper into this tunnel…” The heiress slapped the mine cart and advanced deeper into the cave… then stopped. 

“Why are you not following?” Brittney asked exasperatedly. 

“Just give her a few minutes, ok?” Marco said with great concern while holding Jackie who was now shivering, and openly sobbing in a fetal position, Mime for her part was patting the officer on the back while glaring at the heiress. 

“Denied, Barfo, we need to get moving.” Brittney said while impatiently pointing at their only route available. 

“OK, ok, ok...Just let me do something.” Marco took a torn sleeve from his hoodie pocket and blindfolded the shivering blonde. 

“You kept those?” Jackie asked between sobs, finally regaining some composure. 

“Hehe, well, I’m holding on to the hope of fixing it up, but anyways this should help, ignore everything else, I’m here to protect you...No matter what, ok?” Marco said, his supportive hands never leaving Jackie’s shoulders, the officer reached her shaky hand and grabbed the knight’s. 

“...O-ok, it’s ok.” Jackie despite her breaky voice, relaxed and felt herself being lifted up by Marco. 

“Done cuddling the dead weight?” Brittney said dismissively and started walking forward without even bothering to wait for the rest to stand up. 

“Would you quit it?” Marco growled, clenching his jaw but felt Jackie tightening her grip. 

“You are protecting me… she is no menace, just a big, fat, ugly bitch.” Jackie whispered as she clung tighter.

“Understood.” Marco’s eyes became focused and began to wordlessly follow Brittney. 

“Only one of those insults is true.” Brittney retorted and they swore they could hear her eyes rolling in her voice.

Mime stood forward and wildly gestured towards the flashlight and herself. 

“Forget it Frenchie! Since apparently, I’m the only one that wants to get out of here, I’m manning the lights.” Brittney said putting the tool as far from Mime’s reach as she could, the performer kept her gaze on the heiress's eyes with a frown and an arched brow. 

Mime’s frown quickly gave way to an innocent smile and a shrug, then the performer right in front of the Asian woman regurgitated a second flashlight without even making the smallest effort to hide it from Brittney. 

“Oh god *Hurk* What the fuck is wrong with you?” Brittney said turning green. Mime for her part put her arm around the other girl’s shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows before going to the back alongside Marco and Jackie to reassuringly pat the back of the latter. 

“Ehehehe, Merci beaucoup.” Jackie said now actually calm and relaxed.

The group kept walking aimlessly for a while and Jackie finally raised her voice. 

“Hey, Wong, what are we actually doing?” Jackie asked. 

“Getting out! What do you think we are doing!?” This question drove Brittney up the wall. 

“If we get out and we are on the side of the plateau we are going to have to climb or go back in to find a path upwards, the same if we end up at the foot of it, have we been going down or up? Or heck, we might be able to climb it if the thunderstorm has stopped.” Jackie reasoned. 

“It won’t stop...it said so in the diary, this thunderstorm had been going for centuries before the diary was written and when we reached this place it was still going...god damn it, why didn’t I think of that?” Brittney was annoyed with herself for a change. 

“Think of what?” Marco finally paid attention to something besides ‘keeping Jackie safe’. 

“I haven’t given a thought to where we were going...god damn it, I think we might have been going down.” Brittney facepalmed and turned on her heel to go back. 

“Wait...let’s not go back.” Jackie said nervously. 

“What!? Why!? This was your fucking idea!!!” Brittney screamed. 

“It’s just...that I got a chill...I think we were on the right track.” Jackie said trembling. 

“BITCH!!! You are blindfolded, what do you even know!?” Brittney said turning a corner, to then go back running back to the path they were using. 

“BATS THE SIZE OF ROTTWEILERS!!!” Screamed Brittney before throwing herself to the ground covering her head protectively. Marco and Mime ducked as well to give as much space to the gigantic, flying rodents as they could. 

“Is it over?” Brittney asked with a shaky voice. 

“Yes, I think it’s ove- JACKIE!? JACKIE!” Marco tried to reassure the heiress but soon noticed that the police officer was missing but his panic was short-lived. 

“Hehehehehe, you are so soft and fluffy.” Jackie was laying on the floor with a bat on top of her but the woman was gently scratching and petting it. Everyone stared slack-jawed at the sight of the woman that not five seconds ago was on the edge of having a breakdown now petting a beast with just the purest of joys. 

“Let’s see...awwwwww!” Jackie removed the blindfold and saw a pair of big, bulging, beady eyes along with a long delicate snout and very expressive ears. 

“Aren’t you a handsome fella?” Jackie giggled and continued her pampering of the humungous animal. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” Brittney screamed so loud that it scared the bat off. 

“Hey, I was about to name it Dracula.” Jackie said with disappointment. 

“PUT ON THE STUPID BLINDFOLD AGAIN AND GET A MOVE ON!” Brittney screamed directly at Jackie’s confused face. 

“Ok, ok...What crawled up your ass?” Jackie compiled but she was not very pleased to do so. Mime and Marco stood up and the latter gave the officer a piggyback ride again. 

“Giddy up… So about that chill, are you alright now?” Marco said to Jackie. 

“Yeah… I think we are on the right path now.” Jackie said nervously. 

“You are blindfolded for god sakes! What do you kno-Ahhh!” Brittney said but tripped with something. 

“HOLY SHIT!” Brittney saw what looked like a line of marching piles of flesh. 

“Huh?! They look like naked mole rats but they don’t have long teeth, that’s curious.” Marco looked intently at the spectacle and Mime got on all fours to see them closely. 

“Really? Are they cute?” Jackie said. 

“They look like pink cucumbers with feet.” Marco said, stopping to think out every word carefully. 

“What is wrong with you Thomas? Shouldn’t you be shivering, or at least try to eat these fucking rats!” Brittney screamed. 

“Nah, animals are either cute, tasty, or both, but I already ate so they are just cute.” Jackie turned her head to where she heard the Asian’s voice. 

“Yeah, real cute, they look like walking ball sacks!” Brittney said kicking a small group of the critters out of the way making them screech horrendously. 

“Shut the fuck up!” Brittney screamed at the little mound of critters that were screeching but the mound started to melt and with that, the rest of the critters jumped into the melty mound making it grow exponentially. 

The pile reformed itself into a gigantic critter head that could barely fit in the tunnel, it looked exactly like the head of the small ones with one difference. 

“Oh, there are the teeth.” Marco said looking at the creature’s teeth that were the same size as he is. 

They all ran through the tunnels screaming trying to flee the enraged rat Pacman head that was after them. 

“Go right!” Jackie screamed, still being carried by Marco and everyone followed the order. 

“Next two tunnels go left!” Jackie screamed again. 

“Why are you screaming orders? You can’t see!” Brittney screamed but followed the order anyway. 

“I don’t know, it’s that weird chill again, ANOTHER LEFT!” Everyone followed the command. 

“Forgive me if I’m not comfortable being guided by a blind bitch!” Brittney screamed. 

“It’s work-” “RIGHT!” “-ing isn’t it?” Marco answered the heiress.

“That thing is still following us so it’s not, I’m going the opposite direction the next order she barks!”

“Can you cooperate for one sec-.” “LEFT!” Marco tried to reprimand Brittney but like clockwork, Jackie said another order and true to her word Brittney went to the right. Marco could barely turn to follow her but Mime with a surprising burst of speed got ahead of Brittney to try and stop her but the mime slipped down a slope. 

“What the aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Brittney couldn’t stop herself and ended up falling down the slope too with Marco following closely behind. 

“I told you it was working!!!” Marco threw all his frustration at Brittney. 

“Ohnoohnoohnothisisbadthisisbadpleasenopleasenopleaseno!!!” Jackie chanted a mile a minute almost choking Marco by clinging on to him too tightly. 

Marco and Brittney landed feet first on a small pool of mud that reached their waists. 

“It’s ok, it’s ok, there is nothing wrong.” Marco reassured Jackie who was in the same state as she was on the mine cart some hours ago. 

“We were doing great before your thick head ruined everything!” Marco turned to Brittney with a scowl. 

“That thing isn’t following us anymore, is it? I just saved our asse-.” Brittney screamed. 

“We could have fallen into another one of those bottomless pits!” Marco interrupted. 

“Could but we didn’t, Any other great insight, Barfo?” Brittney spat her answer. 

“YES! If you didn’t pressure Jackie to just continue she could have actually guided us!” Marco screamed at Brittney’s face, the Asian woman was about to continue the shouting match but a third person raised her voice. 

“WHERE IS MIME!?” Jackie panicked when she couldn’t sense her friend nearby. 

“She fell first, don’t get your panties in a bunch because you are blindfolded and Frenchie refuses to talk… hey… where IS she?” Brittney actually bit her tongue when she noticed that in that mud pool mime was nowhere to be seen. 

Thanks to the current silence the group suddenly felt things brushing on their legs. 

“Guys… What’s going on?” Jackie asked with a weary voice. 

“We are in a pool of mud...that apparently is populated.” Marco said with his eyes wide and his voice a bit panic-y. 

“Oh.” As soon as Jackie answered a figure dripping mud from top to bottom in such a big amount that even its shape was impossible to decipher, Marco quickly threw Jackie to Brittney and tackled the living pile of mud. 

“Take Jackie and GO!!!” Marco screamed as he wrestled with the mud monster and Brittney compiled without a sound. 

“Wait, Wong! We have to help Marco.” Jackie squirmed as she was being dragged by Brittney. 

“Like fuck we are! He said to take you and run! SO THAT’S WHAT I’M DOING!!!” Jackie was able to pull herself loose off of Brittney’s grasp making the heiress drop the flashlight she was holding. 

“Since when do you obey anyone?” Jackie screamed and took off the blindfold to look for the torch. 

“Seriously, it feels like you are getting worse by the minu-.” Jackie turned the flashlight towards the Asian woman and she was trembling on the floor fighting to get up, soft sobs coming from her. 

“Wong?... Are you?” Jackie gingerly approached the sobbing woman and the Asian jerked her head up showing her smearing mascara, along with bloodshot eyes to go along with her shivering form. 

“OF COURSE I AM AFRAID YOU DUMB TWAAAAAATTTTTT!!!!!!” Brittney screamed furiously. 

“I’m trapped in a dark cave filled to the brim with dirty beasts and I don’t know how many months and near-death experiences away from home I am, I wanna go back! That’s all I want god damn it! And I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to get there!!” Brittney with tears streaming down her eyes tried her damndest to stand up despite her trembling limbs, something that proved too much for her as she barely got on her feet for her legs to give in. 

“Shhhhh.” Jackie caught her before she hit the ground and tried to comfort the panicked heiress. 

“We will go back, I promise, I swear.” Jackie carefully put on the blindfold on Brittney and carried her piggyback. 

“And all of us are going back.” Jackie felt the Asian woman tense. 

“You are also afraid you bitch! Let’s just get out of here!” Brittney protested and thrashed on top of the blonde. 

“Yep, I am very afraid but whatever attacked Marco and Mime is not what I’m afraid of.” Jackie said with confidence and Brittney felt the officer accelerate more and more as she said that. 

“No, wait, I think I’m in more danger with you, you crazy whore!” Brittney screamed. 

“Heh, sounds probable, wanna see if it’s true?” Jackie said and the heiress felt a sudden jolt that was immediately followed by the floaty sensation of falling. 

“What are you even thinking!?” Brittney screamed, clinging to the blonde as tightly as she could, to then feel splash into a pool of mud.

“Marco, Mime, Where are you?! Answers please!!!” Jackie looked around desperately pointing the flashlight everywhere to find them calmly sitting at the edge of the mud pool. 

“What?” Jackie was very confused. 

“Sorry, Mime is just applying her makeup, she fell face-first into the mud and ruined it, we were planning on going after you guys… What happened to Brittney?” Marco said. 

“None’ya, Barfo!” Brittney screamed defensively. 

“Ok, at least we can let Jackie lead without you running off or making animals angry.” Marco said annoyed, with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. 

“Cut her some slack dude, she was just as if not more scared than me.” Jackie said enthusiastically, making both Marco and Mime turn with apparent confusion in their faces. 

“Shut up.” Brittney whispered embarrassedly. 

“Ohhhh… I see I didn’t notice.” Marco said struggling with some newfound feelings and Mime quickly went to pat Brittney’s back on a reassuring manner just like she did for Jackie when they fell into the mine. 

“Yeah, yeah, everyone loves me… can we get out of here now.” Brittney said more exhausted than annoyed. 

“Right away… Hemm… Jackie? Do you want me to carry you too? I have the other sleeve for a blindfold and I think Mime can carry Brittney.” Marco shyly offered. 

“No thanks.” Jackie answered with a smile and a sing-song voice. 

“So you are not scared anymore?” Marco said with pride and Mime looked at her with expectant eyes but Jackie just chuckled. 

“Fat chance! But for Wong over here it took getting lost on a dark mine, two chases by animals, and a surprise attack by something on a pool of mud before collapsing, I look like a total wuss in front of that and I don’t want her thinking she is better than me or something.” Jackie offered a little grin to the blindfolded Asian. 

“Too late, blondie.” Brittney said calmly. 

“...But… I’m still afraid… Do you two mind-.” Before Jackie could finish her question both Marco and Mime got to each side of her, Mime playfully rubbed her cheek on Jackie’s, and Marco put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

“Any day, whenever you need it, I promise.” Marco said reassuringly. 

“Ok, now that the party is nice and united… are we just gonna follow blondie’s creepy chill as a guide again.” Brittney said with dread. 

“Looks like it.” Marco answered her and Brittney felt Mime’s hand reassuringly patting her back.

“Ugh, I can tell this is gonna be great.” Brittney said as she grabbed on to Jackie tightly. 

***A FEW HOURS LATER***

“Annnnnd we are out!” Jackie exclaimed, making Brittney to get down from the blonde’s back to take off the blindfold. 

”HOLY SHIT!!!” Brittney’s eyes were wide and her jaw went slack as she saw the mansion they fell into the mine through in the distance. 

“That chill was spot on.” Brittney said in disbelief. 

“Yeah… I’m scared too.” Marco said. 

“Who cares! We are back!” Jackie screamed with joy. 

“Brittney, I’m… I’m sorry for only concentrating on Jackie and even getting annoyed at you, you were so afraid and desperate to leave that you would have just dragged us along if you had, or am I wrong?” Marco turned to the heiress with warmth and regret.

Brittney didn’t answer and just opted to frown and turn her gaze with a little growl… that did nothing to hide the blush she had. 

“Looks like I’m gonna have to get used to you getting mad as a way to deal with things, don’t worry I’m gonna be more mindful of you in the future.” Marco said with a little chuckle and Brittney turned around to see him in the eye with her blush and scowl persisting. 

“Ehhh shut up… But yeah… I think I might need to play nice with you guys.” Brittney said, crossing her arms but she suddenly lost her blush and looked shocked.

“...HEY!!!” Brittney suddenly screamed angrily, making everyone give her all their attention. 

“Is that flying lizard also afraid of closed spaces?” Brittney said outraged, making Jackie scowl at her. 

“Nachos, whatever!” Brittney dismissed. 

“No, she is pretty good with them.” Marco answered confused. 

“Then couldn’t they just let her in to take us out!” Brittney screamed and everyone’s eyes widened. 

“Shit, they might be inside looking for us!” Marco screamed worried. 

“Let’s check the mansion before going in again!” Jackie ordered already having a head start. 

The team busted the door open to find the rest of the group sitting at the table sipping tea, and the four people that just escaped the mine were baffled, disappointed, and pissed. 

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO LOOK FOR US!!!???” Jackie, Brittney, and Marco screamed while Mime angrily gestured. 

“But we did send a guide.” Chantelle answered flatly and Marco went from anger to worry in a millisecond. 

“Oh no! Nachos! Daddy is coming to save you little one!” Marco ran off the mansion with his arms flailing wildly and everyone looked at the scene with a face of bewilderment. 

“Aren’t you gonna go with him?” Brittney asked Jackie. 

“Oh...no… He can handle that… hehe.” Jackie said with a big blush and bashful body language. 

“Ok, spill.” Brittney said decisively. 

“You called a bat the size of a large dog cute and went running back to fight a mud monster, What are you actually afraid of? What turned you into a useless deadweight? I need a fucking answer for the future, I don’t want to be in a situation where we need you and you are crying in a fetal position over I don’t know what!” Brittney said with authority and Jackie softly spoke.

*Whisper* 

“What?” Brittney said, confused. 

“Ghosts.” Jackie said just a bit louder this time, suddenly going stiff. 

“No, I heard you, but I can’t believe you! All that fucking drama! All that sissy crying and shaking over something that doesn’t fucking exist!!!” Brittney was about to choke the officer but noticed the blonde’s dead stare into the distance. 

“What are you looking at you fucking wu- AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaHHH!” Brittney turned around to see a group of people all of them dressed in Victorian-era clothing… also they were floating and translucent. 

“I say, losing your patience is one thing but what you do, little missy is another thing entirely.” One of those people, a rotund one dressed like an aristocrat, approached Brittney to look at her closely, making the woman jump back and hug Jackie for protection, the police officer though had gone completely catatonic with her eyes wide, her mouth agape and all trace of color slowly but surely fading from her face. 

“You should find a way to control that temper, it might bring you problems in the future.” The man said politely. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Brittney though just screamed any and all air her lungs had in them before going limp and falling unconscious into the floor alongside the still stone stiff Jackie. 

“And now that is just rude.” The ghost said offended.

“Why didn’t you guys tell us that you sent a ghost guide?” Marco said with curiosity and embarrassment as he entered the mansion accompanied by a ghost dressed as an old-timey explorer from England and the rest of the group just pointed at Jackie and Brittney passed out on the floor. 

“Ooohhh… That’s a good reason.” Marco said impressed. 

“I say, my boy, I was told not to aid directly if possible and thankfully that little blonde missy appears to be very attuned with spirits, I could guide you all the way by being just a chill.” The ghost gave a hearty laugh. 

“Wait? Really? Ohhh yeah the ritual worked!” Janna raised her fist in the air with joy. 

“What ritual?” Everyone asked. 

“Yep, in second grade, I and her made a ritual to see spirits, I had to make a circle of human bones, put her inside it then bathe her in fresh chicken blood so I had…” Janna gave all the nitty-gritty details of what went on at that time and everyone just listened horrified and in silence. 

“Where did you even get the human bones?” Kelly asked, afraid of the answer. 

“Duh, I only mentioned the graveyard like six times.” Janna rolled her eyes. 

“You were the one defiling the graves all those years back?” Marco said surprised. 

“I’m not actually surprised.” Chantelle said with a shrug. 

“Ehhh.” Janna made a ‘mistake buzzer’ sound “Not just me, Jackie accompanied me through the whole thing.” She said with pride. 

“I think that poor girl should reconsider her friendships.” The explorer ghost whispered to Marco horrified at the story. 

“We all should, we all should.” Marco said in a similar state as the ghost. 

“I’m sorry, Jackie, I’m so sorry for thinking your fears were childish!” Sabrina was openly crying, kneeling beside the still unconscious Jackie and tightly gripping the unconscious girl’s hand to her chest.

Mime and Hekapoo were right behind the crying Sabrina with their heads down giving their condolences. 

“Guys, I’m waiting outside.” Higgs gagged out with a green face before running outside.

*Ehem* The aristocratic ghost got everyone’s attention. 

“We are already aware of your situation, weary travelers, please stay here, I believe that when our friends regain consciousness you would be in shape to leave.” He said. 

“Also I would offer some clothing for your travels but I’m sorry to say the moths got to them way before any of you could.” The ghost said eyeing Chantelle and Brittney. 

“No worries, sir.” Said Chantelle with a small smile. 

“I… I will wait outside too.” Marco said stepping outside. 

Outside Marco found Higgs hurling the insides of her stomach a few feet away from the mansion. 

“You seem to do that a lot.” Marco said with a chuckle. 

“Fuck off! That Janna girl… She is disturbing… Way more than what I’m used to and you’ve been to the neverzone you know what I’m talking about.” Higgs said defensively. 

“Yeah, I think the reason I could handle the neverzone the way I did was in big part because I’m used to her.” Marco said embarrassed and sat at a safe distance from the vomit that was being absorbed by the ground. 

“Turns out we were just unlucky with the landing.” Higgs cleaned her mouth with her forearm and sat beside Marco. 

“Huh?” 

“The ghosts told us that they used to live here but when the living people discovered that being on a lower altitude helps with the “not getting struck by lightning” thing they put a village at the foot of the plateau, that was like 80 years ago.” Higgs explained and Marco tried to say something but the redhead’s scowl cut him off. 

“Don’t get any of this twisted, fake knight, we are not friends, I just have nowhere else to go so I will do the only thing that was left in my to-do list back in the neverzone, prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m better than you.” Higgs said as menacingly as she could. 

_ “PFFFFFTTTT… Not with that queasy stomach, you won't!”  _ Greedy Heart appeared in Marco’s chest with a loud laugh. 

“Yeah! Keep thinking that, it’ll make it easier.” Higgs said and unceremoniously left. 

“And what’s with you? You’ve been awfully quiet today.” Marco asked to his chest. 

_ “Nah, kiddo, you were doing great today, protecting Jackie is priority number one.”  _ Greedy Heart with pride. 

“I thought protecting Janna was priority number one.” Marco said with a relaxed smile. 

_ “That too is priority number one.”  _ Greedy Heart said matter of fact, both it and Marco relaxed and watched the thunderstorm for a few hours. 

“Marco!!! We are going now!” Janna screamed from the mansion’s door. 

“Coming!” Marco said and entered to see both Jackie and Brittney groggy and barely standing. 

“Hey, guys...did...did we see…” Jackie began with her dread rising in every word. 

“Nope.” Sabrina answered hastily. 

“Nothing.” Higgs corroborated. 

“Not a thing.” Kelly reassured. 

“Nothing at all.” Hekapoo added her two cents. 

“Really? I’m pretty sure I…” Brittney began to think straight. 

“No, no, no, boss, you saw nothing, believe me.” Chantelle told Brittney with a serious face and Brittney caved with a confused “oooookkkk?”. 

“Ok, everything is ready, let’s go!” Janna said with enthusiasm as she stepped into the portal. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Marco said as he gently led Jackie into the portal. 

“Come on, boss, things to do, stuff to see.” Chantelle deadpanned as she did the same with Brittney. 

And behind them the portal closed, leaving the ghosts behind. 

“PHEW! Thank the lord that they are finally gone!” The aristocratic ghost said with relief. 

“That Janna was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever encountered!” A ghost screamed fanning himself and a second ghost fainted floating like a dead body in the air. 

“I know, sorry to leave you all alone with her… but I had to escape somewhere!” The explorer ghost said with regret. 

“Let’s just forget this ever happened, and be grateful that Janna didn’t… do some of her more… extreme… stuff with us.” When the aristocratic ghost said that another ghost in the room started to cry. 


	18. Chapter 18

The team came out of the portal as per usual but as soon as they found their footing. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” Jackie’s shrill scream surprised everyone in the group and then the officer grabbed Marco tightly. 

“What happened!?” Marco panicked. 

“NOT AGAIN!!! FOR GOD SAKES NOT AGAIN!!!” Jackie buried her face into Marco’s chest as she continued to scream and shiver. 

Marco looked up to finally analyze this new dimension and found himself surrounded by jungle but what scared Jackie was a bit far in the distance, a ruined temple, the place was already overgrown with greenery and moss, it looked like an Egyptian pyramid but made out of metal. 

Marco’s attention got grabbed by surprisingly Janna coming to comfort Jackie.

“Shhhh, shhh, don’t worry, look at it, it’s made out of metal and it’s surrounded by a city, it’s probably just filled with deathtraps, you know? Like the lost city kind of shit.” Janna warmly said to her oldest friend. 

“You promise? No mummies or anything like that?” Jackie managed to squeak out in a shaky voice. 

“You know that if a ghost comes along I’ll be more than glad to be the victim in your stead.” Janna intertwined hers and Jackie’s fingers and touched their foreheads lightly to reassure her. 

“You better.” Jackie sobbed and leaned into Janna’s touch before she allowed herself to be guided by the witch into the direction of the pyramid. 

Marco for his part was slack-jawed as he watched the whole interaction unfold. 

_ “That was uncharacteristically sweet.”  _ Greedy Heart was just as flabbergasted as Marco. 

“Was she always capable of something like that?” Marco carefully whispered with his face brick-red as soon as he felt himself out of earshot. 

“What? Am I the only one impressed that you have to bring up death traps to calm the blonde down?” Higgs came up from behind Marco making the Latino jump. 

“What happened Marco?” Sabrina inquired about Marco’s disoriented expression. 

“The dumbass was so enthralled with the lesbo pair that he forgot we existed.” Brittney said annoyed. 

“Ohh yeah, I almost forgot how that felt, you know… when you finally decided you preferred Star.” Kelly said as anger slowly grew more apparent in her voice as she just gave an aside glance towards the Latino before following Janna and Jackie.

“Let’s just enter the stupid pyramid.” Hekapoo spat out with spite and went towards the structure. 

“WHY!? CAN’T WE JUST SIT STILL AND WAIT FOR THE FUCKING SCISSORS TO CHARGE UP!?” Brittney screamed out in frustration. 

“Boss, number one, the one with the scissors possibly is IN the pyramid by now and two the last time we did that we almost got sun lasered to death it would be smart to assess our surroundings.” Chantelle said dispassionately before following the rest with Sabrina and Higgs close behind. 

“Fucking shit!!!” Brittney stood stupefied for a second before following. 

“Hey, Barfo! You coming or not!?” Brittney screamed to the knight who had been scared stiff since he noticed that forgetting the existence of the rest of the group was not a welcomed gesture. 

“I’ll give you guys a second of a head start.” Marco gave a nervous laugh and stood there as he saw Brittney roll her eyes and continue on her way. 

_ “HAHAHAHA, Kelly actually gave you the same stink-eye as when she met you again in the library.”  _ If Greedy heart could it would be rolling on the floor. 

“Can you shut up!? And I mean why even!?” Marco screamed in confusion. 

_ “What do you mean why? What woman likes being blatantly ignored? FUCK what human being likes being treated as if he didn’t exist?”  _ Greedy Heart was actually angry now. 

“I didn’t do that!” Marco retorted. 

_ “You sure?”  _ Greedy heart asked with an arched eyebrow and an unimpressed voice. 

“Very su- AAHHH!!!” Marco turned around only to come face to face with Mime who was crossing her arms and had a stern look. 

“Eeeeeehehehe… hi… didn’t see you there.” Marco said nervously. 

Mime’s only answer was to squint her eyes and march after the rest of the group. 

_ “Let me ask again, Are you sure?”  _ Greedy heart said with a sickening smug edge to its voice. 

***Near the pyramid***

The group started to explore the ruins near the pyramid and it came to everyone’s surprise that... 

“This place actually looks modern.” Sabrina said in awe as she saw the metal city that had already been overtaken by nature, some tree trunks had already collapsed some of the tall buildings that looked like gigantic tubes with windows. 

“I would even say futuristic.” Chantelle said as she continuously looked around her. 

“If these things were taken care of properly I’m sure they would look like the ‘chrome future’ we thought we would have in the 2000s.” Chantelle said cleaning off the moss of a building with her hand and taking notice that it only took that to give that little spot a mirror sheen. 

“Yeah, what do you think happened? This place looks like a post-apocalypse after a utopic future, do you guys think it was the A.I. going haywire?” Jackie said with stars in her eyes. 

“Maybe zombies but we just arrived so late we missed all the action.” A disappointed Janna interjected. 

“Oh, oh, What about a viral infection?” Sabrina skipped in place with excitement. 

“Girls, from the stuff we’ve seen dragons is a possibility.” Chantelle said with plain confidence. 

“Pfff, stupid shit… economic collapse followed by riots until everyone died obviously.” Brittney pointed out offhandedly. 

The rest of the group sans Marco were looking at the chattering lot horrified. 

“Marco… what’s wrong with them?” Kelly said, actually hiding behind the Latino. 

“Yeah, that is plain sadistic.” Higgs said with revulsion.

Mime for her part joined Kelly hiding behind Marco. 

“Yeah, stuff from while we were growing up just wanted to figure out how the world would end, this might seem more like a fantasy for them than anything else.” Marco said embarrassed.

“And how many of them accurately pointed out that “destroying magic” would be the thing that ends the world.” Hekapoo sneered. 

“What? You aren’t going to laugh this time.” Marco thought to his heart. 

_ “I was about to say the exact same joke, I feel cheated.”  _ Greedy heart sounded like a child throwing a tantrum. 

_ “She’s right though.”  _ Though it could still push out a little slight that made Marco roll his eyes. 

“Hey!” While he was distracted Jackie jumped right in front of Marco scaring the daylights out of him, thankfully both Mime and Kelly kept him on his feet. 

“Oh! Sorry dude ehehehe.” Jackie sounded a bit embarrassed. 

“Hey! We are taking bets on what that pyramid is, who’s in? I say it is a giant battery for the city.” Jackie said pointing at the big building they were all heading to.

“I have a few ideas but I'd rather confirm them when we get there.” Marco said politely. 

“I mean… look at the road we are in and all the roads seem to go towards the pyramid, maybe like a central control for all this tech?” Kelly pondered out loud. 

“It’s the king’s castle.” Higgs tried not to make eye contact with Jackie to not show that she was actually into this little game. 

Mime made a bunch of theatrical exaggerated gestures. 

“Cultural center, I didn’t think about that mon ami.” Jackie snapped her fingers in a little “eureka” moment. 

“And you Hekapoo?” Jackie turned her head towards Hekapoo. 

“I’ll pass, this place feels eerily familiar, I might get it right by accident.” Hekapoo said carefully as she analyzed every little detail as she walked. 

“Well, we are not far off.” Jackie said with excitement and ran towards the pyramid. 

“Oh, now it’s a race!?” Higgs followed with the same excitement. 

“If it is you ain’t winning.” Jackie giggled and doubled the pace. 

“It sure is nice to see her in a good mood again.” Kelly mused out loud. 

“She is great isn’t it?” Marco said with a love-struck sigh. 

_ “YOU DUMB FUCK!!!”  _ Greedy heart screamed and the thing actually sounded scared for its life inside Marco’s head, the Latino couldn’t even try to figure out why was the commotion all about when he felt a hard punch on his shoulder. 

Turning to look he just saw Kelly with a big frown and her hand still in a fist. The green-haired woolette just huffed and ran towards the pyramid and once again before Marco could figure out what happened he felt a slap on the back of his head. 

“Awesome job, Romeo!” Screamed Heckapoo without even turning around as she ran to the rest of the group. 

Marco turned to see Mime who frowned and shook her head before joining the race to the pyramid. 

_ “5 minutes, can you not piss them off for 5 minutes?”  _ Pleaded the exasperated Greedy heart. 

“What the fuck did I do!?” Marco retorted with an exasperated scream of his own. 

***In the pyramid***

Marco was in awe not by how magnificent or alien the place was… but by how familiar it was. The place was hollow and divided into various floors all of them were little floors in the perimeter allowing the center to be void but the small floors that hugged the walls were littered with departments with wide doors, and windows advertising products and stores, also there were tons of signs and maps around the place. 

“Holy shit it’s a mall!” Brittney screamed with excitement as she browsed through the place. 

“Oh great! Nobody won the bet.” Janna sighed exasperatedly. 

“What were you even gonna win in the bet?” Marco said. 

“Bragging rights.” Janna said offhandedly. 

“HEY! THERE IS NOTHING TO LOOT HERE!” Higgs screamed from the third floor. 

“What do you mean nothing! This is a commerce center it shoul-.” Brittney kicked down a door angrily only to find the place completely empty. 

“What the hell!? THIS PLACE IS EMPTY!” Brittney screamed until something dawned on her. 

“HA! That means it was looting and riots, point for me on that one!” Bragged the heiress. 

“This place… I know this place.” Hekapoo muttered to herself. 

“Hey there are counters here and everything, but don’t they look a bit off?” Jackie said, looking at the chrome counter with a huge light blue concave circle in its center. 

“Wait a second…” Sabrina said, putting her hand on top of the blue circle and giving a little chant. 

Sabrina’s hair began to float and her eyes glowed slightly but that was small potatoes compared with the counter shooting a pillar of blue light straight up, right in front of her. The pillar began to divide into ribbons of light that started to jump at the walls of the department creating posters, chairs, floating screens of light, and the most important thing, a product appeared right on that concave circle. 

“A ring? Did you know a spell for this?” Jackie said as she picked up the simple flat, silver ring. 

“*Pant* *pant* No… I just transferred magic from me to the counter.” Sabrina said out of breath and looked around to see the place that actually looked like a jewelry now with lots of counters filled with products along with floating screens displaying catalogs. 

“This is unreal.” Jackie put her hand on top of one of the newly emerged counters and it went through it. 

“Woah! Ok this is just another way to display stuff, not actual stuff.” Jackie said surprised before all the things that had appeared thanks to Sabrina’s magic vanished in front of her eyes. 

“And that’s all my magic can manage it seems.” Sabrina said disappointed. 

“Not exactly.” Jackie proudly showed Sabrina the silver ring that she made. 

“It appears that once made it doesn’t disappear.” Jackie said with a huge smile on her face, a smile that Sabrina imitated, taking the ring in her hands Sabrina ran outside the store she was in.

“Guys! The stores work with magic, we can make anything we want!!!” Sabrina screamed letting the echo carry the message all around the place and like clockwork the whole group with the exception of Hekapoo peeked their heads from different corners and floors from the mall. 

“Wait! Really! Oh my god! I haven’t gone on a shopping spree in sooooo long and this time I get to do it for free!!! Finally, this bullshit situation is starting to have some positives.” Brittney was about to cry out of joy. 

“Well… I’m in dire need of perfume.” Chantelle muttered making sure no one could hear her. 

“Wooo! If this place used to have magic adepts they might have books on the subject!” Kelly excitedly screamed from the second to last floor. 

“Weapons! Armor! Tools for survival! Food!!! MEDICINE!!! Keep your head on the essentials god damn it! We are not here to dilly dally!” Higgs made sure her voice was heard throughout the whole mall. 

_ “Look who’s suddenly a team player!”  _ Greedy Heart screamed, making the rest of the group chuckle. 

“Come on, come on, this place works by materializing matter using magic, I have it in the tip of my tongue.” Hekapoo who still was on the entrance was pacing back and forth while muttering frustrated with herself.

“So where do we start!?” Brittney screamed. 

“Sorry Brittney, a single small ring took quite a bit out of me. We can’t just go around getting everything it seems.” Sabrina’s statement was accompanied by exasperated groans from all around the place. 

“Ok, ok, take it easy, if this place used magic, it looks this technological but it is also this ancient… then this place is…” Hekapoo massaged the sides of her head to try to remember. 

“Hey! guys… I think I found a battery for this place!” Janna screamed from the top floor in front of a giant glass tube that was bound to the floor and ceiling from its ends lots of cables spread all around and disappeared into the building and the middle of it was solely a glass tube with a mouse training wheel inside of it. 

“It would make the scissors stop charging but maybe we could use the mall freely if I shove Marcello in here!” Janna screamed her plan. 

“Do it! I don’t care if I’m stuck in a free of charge mall!” Brittney screamed. 

“Yeah! We could get what we need and then take the little ball of evil out!” Higgs weighted in. 

“Who agrees with the plan!?” Jackie shouted from where she stood. 

“AYE!!!” Sounded almost unanimously. 

“Well, here goes!” Janna said as she opened a little door to put Marcelo into the training wheel. 

“Where are we? Where are we?... reactivating the place?-WAIT DON’T!!!” Hekapoo managed to scream too late as an impossibly bright light lit up on the top floor. 

Every single store lit up one by one showing their displays proudly as they did so. Every single person was squealing with excitement as they saw the stores beginning to work. 

“Janna take that unicorn out of there NOW!!!” Hekapoo screamed at the top of her lungs making all of the people there pay attention to her. 

“Why?” Janna screamed from the top floor to the woman on the ground floor. 

“ALERT! ALERT! UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL IS ATTEMPTING TO INFILTRATE THE FACILITY! ALERT! ALERT!” A robotic voice screamed blared from speakers scattered around the mall. 

“Because of that, you dumbass, take that unicorn out!!!” Hekapoo retorted firmly. 

“Cristal clear!” Janna screamed as she ran towards Marcello but when approached the tube the sirens blared even louder. 

“UNIDENTIFIED PERSONNEL APPROACHING CENTRAL POWER SUPPLY!” A wall instantly materialized between Janna and Marcelo. 

“EJECTING FOREIGN AGENT!” The robotic voice said before the wall propelled forward shooting Janna off the top floor. 

“JANNA!” Marco screamed from the floor right below the top one and leaped from the edge of the floor to catch the falling witch. 

_ “And who’s catching us!?”  _ Greedy heart’s scream was cut short when Marco was grabbed from mid-air by his hoodie. 

“Janna. Seriously. DIET!!!” Jackie screamed frustrated as she struggled to lift both the knight and the witch. 

“Why only me!?” Said Janna outraged while draped in Marco’s arms. 

“I’m sure most of this weight is yours and don’t argue… with me… right now!” With that last push, Jackie was able to lift both of them over her head making them land safely but not painlessly on the ground. 

“Nice catch tiger.” Janna congratulated the knight while cuddling as close to him as she could and keeping eye contact with half-lidded eyes. 

“Are yo _ u ok?”  _ Both Marco and Greedy Heart asked at the same time with the same amount of concern. 

“Never better.” Janna closed her eyes and snuggled to the Latino's chest, the moment lasted for half a second before an explosion occurred right over them. 

“Janna, some help?” Sabrina said with her legs shaking and surrounded by bomb scarabs. 

Janna looked up and saw a giant buzz-saw being moved by a giant robot arm and it was coming right at her and Marco but was stopped by another 2 bomb scarabs. With that Sabrina fell to her knees and the rest of the scarabs fell to the ground as they withered and turned to dust, Janna saw the whole display with a face of disapproval and stood up. 

“Sab, how many times do I have to tell you? Ration how much magic you use at one time!!!” Janna’s eyes glowed blue and a giant vine latched itself into the robot arm operating the buzz-saw. 

“Using too much magic in one go is for last resort only! Remember there is not much magic to spare! Besides if you just use a ton of magic and then it withers and dies because you couldn’t keep up it would be a waste anyway!” Janna said while she struggled with the buzz-saw as she was playing tug-o-war with the robot arm. 

“Bu-but you’ve been doing that like five times a day this past month!” The distressed Sabrina said conjuring her own vine. 

“And all of them were necessary!” Janna responded firmly. With the help of Sabrina, both were able to keep the buzz-saw in place but the stubborn thing began to overtake the twin vines holding it down. 

But before the saw could break the vines Kelly leaped from the 4rth floor to cut the robot arm with her ginormous sword to land gracefully beside Janna. 

“Guys… I think we should have thought about there being a security system.” Kelly said distraught. 

“I agre-.” Marco tried to respond but an incessant “Clank” sound interrupted him. 

A group of small robots made of miscellaneous stuff like silverware, jewelry, boxes, and what looked like car parts came stumbling at them while visibly electrically charged. 

“Kelly, do you have any more weapons in there? Not made of metal preferably.” Marco panicked. 

“Ehhh… Mind going inside to check?” Kelly slowly backed off. 

“You two! Some magic would be appreciated!” Kelly turned on her hill only to see both Janna and Sabrina stopping another 3 buzz-saws. 

“Yeah! I’m sure but we are a LITTLE busy!” Janna spat back at the woolette. 

“I’m so sorry, Kelly!” Sabrina screamed teary-eyed. 

Kelly and Marco turned to face the horde of robots with decided expressions. 

“This is gonna hurt.” Marco said covering his hands with the torn sleeves he still carried around. 

“Pffft, I’ve had worse.” Kelly said as she got ready to pounce. 

“Hey! where did Jackie go?” Marco asked, confused. 

“Jackie was here?” Kelly answered just as confused, relaxing a bit even. 

As if on cue Kelly’s hair rustled and Jackie shot out riding Nachos. 

“I’ll see what I can do about the battery! You guys try to hold your ground!” Jackie screamed as she fast approached the top floor with a plastic spatula on hand. 

“HEY! I need that for pancakes!” Kelly screamed. 

“I’ll get you another one! I promise! AHHHH!” Jackie turned for a second only to be violently jolted back to attention because Nachos had to evade another buzz-saw. 

“Is it weird that I am both happy to let her lead and afraid that she does so considering that I saw her wet herself over some friendly ghosts?” Kelly said with concern. 

“Sounds reasonable to me… but you know…” Marco carefully pointed at the still approaching horde of minibots. 

“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about those.” Kelly put her stance back. 

“HAAAAAA!!!” Both of them charged directly at the horde, Marco slapped robots off of the floor one by one and since the robots were kind of flimsy they shattered on impact with the ground, meanwhile, Kelly was swatting a good number of the small clanker with the blunt side of her sword. 

The process was slow and most of all painful, Kelly’s sword was not isolated to the hilt, and hitting so many robots at a time made sure that Kelly felt jolts all the way to her spine every time her sword touched those robots, she felt her arms more and more jittery after every swing until she couldn’t even hold her sword at all. 

Marco had his hair standing making a spiky afro because of the electricity, every time he slapped a robot off to the ground floor a jolt of electricity made him jump but the problem came after a few robots were thrown off as the sleeves he was using as gloves started to give out smoke. 

_ “Kid, your hands are on fire!!!”  _ Greedy Heart screamed alarmed as his makeshift gloves were indeed lit aflame. 

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!” Marco screamed and ran in circles until he finally threw the blazing sleeves off the edge of the floor. 

“*Huff* *Huff* well... there go the sleeves.” Marco said frozen in fear as the number of robots hadn’t decreased it actually looked like it had increased. 

“... I can barely hold my sword anymore.” Kelly said out of breath. 

“We can’t hold these things much longer!” Sabrina desperately screamed as the saw was inching its way to her face and Janna was in a similar situation with the buzz-saws.

And suddenly as if it was a flash of light both the robots and the buzz-saws stopped to just as suddenly fall apart, right in front of the stupefied group stood Hekapoo straight and proud… until she hunched over to catch her breath. 

“*Huff* *pant* *huff* Stupid useless mortal body.” Hekapoo decried her situation but the rest of the group smiled or laughed in both approval and relief. 

“H-poo!” Marco jumped with joy to try and hug the newcomer but was stopped by an angry frown and a hand grabbing his collar. 

“What the fuck is wrong with all of you!? Not one of you!? Really not a single one of you thought that this place might have a security system!?” Hekapoo screamed outraged and turning at the group that now just looked embarrassed. 

“... I’m sorry, I wanted books.” Kelly and Sabrina said at the same time while they hung their heads low in shame.

“Great excuse. Hey, muscles! Here take these.” Hekapoo threw her scissors to Marco. 

“The handles are the best of the best in both material and craftsmanship, it is completely isolated so no need to fear electricity.” Hekapoo said as she haughtily walked towards Kelly’s hair. 

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Where do you think you are going, Casper the furry ghost?” Janna said furiously. 

“To rest, I had to run from the entrance to here and clean the mess you couldn’t get out of, I think I’ve earned it.” Hekapoo squinted her eyes and her gaze just dared the witch to question her further. 

“*Groan* Ok, you might want to work on your cardio if a couple of flights of stairs is all it takes to take you down.” Janna said with barely contained rage. 

“You know, Janna, you might also want to work on your car…” Sabrina tried to intervene but Janna sent a glare in her direction that made the apprentice witch back off in a second. 

“Nothing… I said nothing.” Sabrina said alongside with a nervous laugh. 

“You better come out of there if we need you.” Kelly squinted her eyes and furrowed her brow despite there being no way for Hekapoo to see it. 

“Don’t worry, I will, I just need to remember exactly where we are.” Hekapoo whispered to the woolette. 

***At a higher floor of the pyramid***

Chantelle, Brittney, and Higgs were huddled together in a corner of a store, Mime was hidden behind the trio just peeking the top of her trembling head as she saw a horde of full-grown-man-size robots inching their way to them. 

The robots were formed by what looked like buckets as their torso and heads, their arms and hands were made by sharp tongs and their legs were made by tubes joined by joint balls and they maintained stability with slabs of thick metal as feet. 

“Care for another bet?” Higgs said with a confident smile. 

“Shoot.” Chantelle answered with a slight smirk. 

“Whoever beats more of these wins.” Higgs stated plain and simple. 

“Oh… I’m out then.” Chantelle said disappointed. 

“What am I winning, ginger?” Brittney smugly said. 

“Bragging rights.” Higgs shrugged nonchalantly. 

“I’ll take it.” Brittney sneered. 

“If you win it.” Higgs immediately jumped on one of the robots. 

“I will.” Brittney squinted and threw a punch directly to the head of one of the robots sending it flying and with that robot out of commission Brittney tore a pair of tongs off of its body and used them like a baseball bat against some other robots. 

“Ha! You are quite the savage, huh?” Higgs admired the heiress handiwork as a bunch of robots were being sent flying by her mighty swing. 

“I’m what, bitch!?” Brittney screamed upset. 

“I meant it as a compliment!” Higgs retorted as she imitated the Asian woman by tearing off a pair of tongs off of a robot and then using it as a battering ram with a straight line of robots making a robot brochette before tearing another tong from one of those robots to repeat the action. 

Meanwhile, still in the corner, the now terrified Mime hugged Chantelle and the big hipped woman began to pat the mime’s head. 

“Don’t worry, I can’t fight a crowd but I can protect you from those two.” While Chantelle comforted Mime the laugh of both women echoed around them as they were cackling with glee at the slaughter they were causing.

“Wow, Higgs! I thought we were the sadistic ones!” Chantelle said, focusing her attention on the blitz in front of her but Mime poked her on the shoulder pointing at three robots that were able to avoid the berserker pair and approach the two cornered women. 

“Well… three I can manage.” Chantelle cracked her knuckles and approached slowly but felt another tap on the shoulder. 

Turning around she saw Mime start to twitch before vomiting a baseball bat and the artist generously offered the weapon. 

“Ohhh… If you are so kind how can I refuse?” Chantelle contorted her face into a nice smile but her furred brow showed just how displeased she was with this, Chantelle took the weapon anyways and used it to great effect with all three robots. 

When the rest of the group caught up to them the only thing they found was a mountain of trash and a pair of bickering women. 

“I took down 45!” Higgs screamed exasperated. 

“I~ took down 45, I split that last one in half!” Brittney pointed at herself and then pointed at a half-robot nailed to the wall by a pair of tongs stabbed through its head. 

“I nailed it to the wall!” Higgs argued. 

“Oh come on! Being cut in half it’s obviously what took it down!” Brittney kept the discussion going. 

Marco and the rest tiptoed around the arguing pair and went to a corner of the store where Chantelle was comforting Mime who was in a fetal position and rocking herself back and forth, her eyes as wide as plates. 

“What happened to her?” Marco asked with concern as he kneeled to help comfort her. 

“She saw stuff… you know, stuff that I thought only Brittney was capable of but surprisingly Higgs can do too.” Chantelle pointed at the two still arguing women. 

“Where is Heka?” Chantelle asked. 

“In my hair, she said she was tired and needed to think about some stuff.” Kelly answered promptly. 

“... And officer Thomas?” Chantelle continued.

“She went to get Marc-.” Janna began to explain before Nachos crashed into the store with Jackie on top of her to the gasps and surprise of everyone present. 

“Wh-?” Marco managed to squeak out before Jackie interrupted.

“DUCK!” Jackie screamed and everyone did so as a swarm of robots with the form of eggs with wings and forks attached to their fronts crashed into the store to find themselves embedded on its walls. 

“*Pant* *Pant* That thing doesn’t want anything near Marcello.” Jackie said frustrated and while she explained that the last flying robot went straight to Jackie but she swatted it out of the air with the spatula. 

“I’m completely out of ideas.” Jackie said distressed. 

“Can’t we just burst our way in there?” Brittney said seriously. 

“I agree.” Higgs continued. 

“It creates a wall and throws you off the floor.” Jackie explained. 

“I would suggest Nachos but…” Marco looked at the scratch marks all over his dragon. 

“Yeah… we didn’t have a good time.” Jackie scratched her chin with the spatula. 

“Hey!” Kelly took her spatula and haphazardly threw it into her hair. 

“… Sorry about that.” Jackie’s mood was lifted immediately with the little innocent giggle that Kelly’s angry face caused in her. 

Everyone stood there for a bit, deep in thought until a very loud bug called everyone’s attention and they saw a big scarab that had a wick attached to its head, the scarab did a few laps around the group until it settled on Janna’s outstretched finger. 

“Duh.” Janna raised her eyebrow and had a smug smirk on her face. 

“So we are just gonna hope that your magic can overpower this whole building?” Marco inquired incredulously. 

“Oh believe me I will be better than this whole city if that brings Marcello back.” Janna said in a decisive manner. 

“Anyone that wants to stand back and think of something better while this place is making more death robots, please, be my guest.” Janna said after crossing her arms and turning on her heel to leave the store. Everyone followed the witch with differing amounts of confidence. 

***At the top floor.***

The top floor was completely barren with the exception of the entrance and the aforementioned tube that fed the whole building and was currently imprisoning a very eager Marcello as he was running on the training wheel with gusto. 

“UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL APPROACHING!!!” The robotic voice blared once again. 

“We heard you the first time!!!” Janna screamed and her eyes started to glow blue. 

“Sab, now it’s the time to use all the reserves you’ve got.” Janna turned to her apprentice who nodded and her eyes started to glow as well. 

“Soooooo~ we just charge ahead and trust you?” Jackie asked her oldest friend. 

“Can you do it?” Janna showed her friend a smirk. 

“Do you even need to ask?” Jackie rolled her eyes at the insinuation. 

All of them sans Janna and Sabrina charged ahead and the tube began raising another wall to throw the trespassers off the floor. 

“Frigid wave!” Janna put her hands on the floor and a wave of icy mist rolled and expanded in front of her freezing the ground it touched. 

“Jump!” Marco ordered and everyone followed, they jumped over the wave that managed to freeze into place the emerging wall. 

Then a bunch of buzz-saws appeared from the ceiling and were going straight to the group. Marco threw one blade from Hekapoo’s scissors to Jackie and a small nod was all the police-woman needed to throw herself to the saws and slice them into bits alongside the knight and they both stood their ground there cutting every new saw that emerged. 

The tube behind the wall began to glow and a bunch more trash robots started to drop down from the other side of the wall to face the group. Higgs and Brittney looked at each other with a sickening smile. 

“What do you say, squinty eyes? We are both back to 44?” Higgs said with excitement. 

“You are on, ginger.” Brittney responded and both of them began the slaughter once again. 

The tube glowed again and a swarm of flying egg robots threw themselves at the group but Sabrina from the back made a finger gun with her right hand pointing directly at the swarm. 

“Humming thunderbird!” From Sabrina’s finger, a small yellow hummingbird appeared and instantly took flight leaving a trail of lightning in its wake, and with little effort, the hummingbird went from robot to robot in the swarm, and one by one they were being deactivated and dropped to the floor. 

But some of the flying robots were able to break through the onslaught and threw themselves directly at the two witches, Janna and Sabrina barely noticed a single robot gunning for them but before it reached its goal a hard hit completely busted the robot. 

“Batter up.” Chantelle said with the baseball bat that Mime gave her and took a batting position to hit another robot. 

“Didn’t know you played baseball.” Both Sabrina and Janna said surprised but the big hipped woman giggled. 

“I don’t but this might be a good start.” Chantelle said as she lifted her leg high and brought it down alongside the bat to hit another robot. 

“That’s for pitching.” Sabrina said with a giggle. 

“Noted.” Chantelle smiled and winked at her old cheerleading partner.

“You two just focus on magic.” Chantelle gave the magic duo a relaxed smile and went back to bat. 

“On it.” Janna said making her hands glow bright “Strength of giants.” 

Janna’s spell made a beeline towards Kelly making her glow red and the woolette ran headfirst towards the frozen wall that crumbled like a bunch of stacked cards against the librarian's headbutt. 

“Wow! can I get that one on the regular? That was awesome!” Kelly said in awe at her handy work, looking at the destroyed wall with child-like glee. 

“I’ll think about it!” Janna called with a cackle from the other side of the floor. 

Mime for her part had already reached the tube and had already opened the door and grabbed Marcello from the tube. 

“HA! What are you gonna do now you useless tin can!” Janna gloated but the tube still had energy left as it glowed and a bunch of portals opened under every person on the floor. 

“You cheating sack of shi-.” Janna managed to say before everyone was swallowed by the portals. 

***On the garbage disposal***

The portals spat out the group in a big room filled with trash, after a harsh landing they checked their surroundings. 

“Is everyone ok?” Marco called for everyone but when no one answered he began to look for them. 

“I’m here.” Marco heard a groan and went towards it to find Chantelle lying on her back. 

“Oh, God!” Marco panicked. 

“Don’t worry sir. Diaz, I can walk.” The secretary struggled to stand up and Marco hurried to help her but when Chantelle felt Marco near she pushed him away. 

Marco stared at Chantelle in disbelief and the secretary blushed and looked away. 

“Sir. Diaz… Please let me do this on my own, now it’s not a good time.” Chantelle said not looking at Marco in the eye. 

“...Ok.” Marco replied, still visibly worried. 

_ “What’s up with her? Considering the “sparring match” she would pretend to be hurt so that we end up feeling her up.”  _ Said the mystified Greedy Heart, Marco tried to ignore it but he felt that the cursed heart was talking sense. 

“Hey! I’m here!” Kelly screamed from the top of a pile of garbage that she jumped off of. 

“Are you ok?” Marco asked with concern. 

“Yep!” Kelly said with a huge smile while she flexed her arm. 

Marco gave a sigh of relief and then looked scared again. 

“And H-poo?” Kelly gave him a knowing look. 

“Still here, haven't made a peep, she might be napping actually.” Kelly said sarcastically to try to lighten the mood but then she saw the limping secretary. 

“Are you ok, Chantelle? Want me to help?” Kelly tried to help but Chantelle stopped her. 

“I’m ok, don't worry.” Chantelle gave a strained smile and despite her reservations, Kelly backed off. 

“Ok, we are missin-.” Marco tried to keep a list in his head but a sound of muffled screams called his attention. Going where the sound was they found Jackie trapped upside down inside a pile of trash with her legs were flailing wildly.

_ “Look at them thighs!”  _ Greedy Heart said with joy. 

“Now is not the time!” Marco whispered angrily to himself as he hugged Jackie by the back of the knees and pulled managing to free the officer in one go. 

“Oh, Lord! That was an experience.” Jackie said relieved before taking a deep breath. 

A pair of loud voices approached them and taking a look they found Higgs and Brittney loudly arguing with each other. Higgs was piggybacking Janna and Brittney was doing the same to Sabrina. 

“Can’t we just agree on a stalemate, we lost to the fucking building anyways!” Higgs screamed exasperated. 

“No way! I lost to the building, not to you!” Brittney argued. 

The pair got near the rest of the group and without even acknowledging them, they just left the girls in the care of the rest as they kept arguing, Marco bridal carried Janna and Kelly did the same for Sabrina. 

“Either kill them or kill me, I don’t care which.” Janna said with tired desperation as she tried to shield her ears. 

“Where is Marcello?” Janna asked before Marco could even open his mouth. 

“I don’t know.” Marco replied and his heart sank when he saw that Janna looked genuinely distressed until a loud whistle made their heads turn. 

On top of a mountain of garbage Mime was sitting and with pride she lifted her hands that were holding the black unicorn in his mini size. 

“Marcello!” Janna screamed with joy and basically jumped off of Marco’s grasp while Marcello did the same with Mime’s hold and turned into his horse size to run down the garbage pile. 

“I’ll never let you off my sight again.” Janna sobbed as she snuggled to the unicorn’s chest. 

_ “Ok kid, if you stop staring at the… admittedly cute scene you might manage to keep this on the down-low.”  _ Marco heard Greedy Heart whisper in his head. 

“Really, Barfo?” Brittney said disappointed. 

“AAAAAAHAHAHAHA! Not even that is impressive from you, fake knight!” Higgs guffawed while pointing at the Latino. 

“I insist nothing impressive but nothing that can’t be worked with either.” Chantelle said with authority. 

“Can we stop this talk?” Marco pleaded and looked at Janna who looked like he has never ever seen her before, she looked motherly and over herself with joy, a big difference to the macabre girl he was very familiar with. 

“I need to go somewhere.” Marco said with desperation as he hurriedly fled. 

“Go where?” Jackie asked him. 

“ANYWHERE!!!” Marco retorted. 

After Marco was out of their line of sight Higgs still had a fit of the giggles. 

“That was a bit excessive don’t you think?” Jackie asked Higgs with her arms crossed and a furrowed brow. 

“Boy, I hope it was!” Higgs hastily dismissed still laughing slightly. 

“I remember now!” Without much anticipation, Hekapoo burst out of Kelly’s hair. 

“Ahhh!” “What the fuck, dude?” “You are gonna give me a heart attack!” Everyone jumped in surprise at the sudden revelation. 

“Where are we?” Hekapoo paid no mind and just looked around. 

“Yeah, you missed a bit, long story short, portals and garbage disposal or dump, thanks for your help by the way.” Janna said dismissively and Hekapoo just stared at her with a surprised face for a bit before regaining her bearings. 

“Ok, anyways we are-.” Hekapoo tried to hurry with her explanation but… 

“KELLY! BRING HEKAPOO HERE! SHE NEEDS TO SEE THIS!!!” Marco screamed from the other side of the place. 

“WHAT NOW?!” Screamed the exasperated Hekapoo. 

The whole team hurried to where they heard Marco and they found the Latino staring at a wall that had a mural painted on it. 

“Yep… now I’m a hundred percent sure where we are.” Hekapoo said with revulsion as she saw the mural. The mural was a painting of Glossaryck sitting on a lotus position with his mouth wide open and vomiting, the vomit filled rivers and there were a bunch of red people drinking from the river, then the mural portrayed the red people walking away and using magic to raise the city. 

“This is the first civilization to ever use magic.” Hekapoo groaned out. 

“What? Did I destroy another civilization?” Marco pulled his head in a panic but Hekapoo slapped him in the back of the head. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself! look at this place, do you believe this amount of decay happens in five years?” Hekapoo tried to bring the knight back to his senses. 

“I-I… I guess not.” Marco still sounded confused but he was now listening. 

“These guys went extinct way before I was even born.” Hekapoo said firmly. 

“Wow! So this blue guy is kinda like a visual representation of magic or something?” Sabrina examined the mural with amazement and curiosity. 

“No, he is the actual personification of magic just like my uncle is the personification of time.” Hekapoo patted the mural. 

“... Waiiittt~.” Sabrina started to turn from the mural to the furry woman. 

“Yeah, I’m not proud of it.” Hekapoo cut the topic before it could come up. 

“But going back to the topic of this place… I don’t know a damn.” Hekapoo shrugged. 

“What?” All the group screamed at the same time. 

“I don’t know shit about this place besides what I just told you.” Hekapoo leaned on the wall. 

“Its name?” Sabrina asked. 

“Nope.” Hekapoo said nonchalantly. 

“How did it collapse?” Marco Inquired with urgency. 

“No idea.” Hekapoo kept the aloof act. 

“What kind of creatures populated this place?” Kelly was now just trying to get something out of Hekapoo. 

“The mural might give a few clues because I’m useless on that front.” But the woman remained uninterested. 

“How did they use magic?” Jackie questioned firmly and Hekapoo gave herself a second to think and then she opened her mouth, everyone present leaned in expectation of the answer. 

“Beats me.” Everyone facepalmed at Hekapoo’s smug answer. 

“How can you not know about this place? Your fucking father created this place.” Brittney remarked as she slapped the mural both for emphasis and to call attention to the blue man in the mural. 

“Pfff, you think THAT helps at all? Here, check this out.” Hekapoo sneered at Brittney’s observation. 

“Marco, do you remember the MHC, my brothers?” Hekapoo asked sweetly. 

“Hmmm. Rhombulus, Lekmet, and Omnitraxus.” Marco recalled the high commission. 

“Do you remember Reynaldo?” Hekapoo kept with the sweet act. 

“...Who?” Marco was taken aback by that statement. 

“EXACTLY!!! Reynaldo was also a part of the magic high commission but he was also a mistake so he got taken somewhere else by Glossaryck so he would never have to think about him again and we never heard anything about him again either.” Hekapoo screamed furiously. 

“I’m sure you remember that absolutely everything felt like it was planned when it came to that annoying blue fuck, do you know why that was?” Hekapoo pointed an accusatory finger at Marco. 

“Because he could see the future or something?” Marco answered submissively with his hands in the air as he took a few steps back. 

“NO!!! It was because the asshole never opened his useless yap when it came to his mistakes!!! This place was a mistake so nobody knew what the fuck happened with it!” Hekapoo’s accusatory finger went from Marco to the painting of her father on the wall. 

“All he was ever good for was being a dick and acting smug about it! FUCK YOU!!!” Hekapoo flipped the mural off and ended up a panting mess after her rant. 

“Wow, and here I thought you had daddy issues, boss.” Chantelle said plainly to Brittney. 

“H-poo?” Marco approached the pale woman but her hand stopped him. 

“I’m fine, thinking about that asshole just riles me up, that’s all.” Hekapoo regained her breath and went back to leaning on the wall. 

“Ok, we should find a way out of here and-” Jackie sensed that the talk had ended and decided to get down and dirty but a strange feeling caught her attention. 

“Oh! Well, would you look at that.” Jackie said looking at her hand. 

“What? What happened?” Marco got near her and Jackie showed her hand or more specifically the silver ring on her finger that slowly turned to ash in front of everyone’s bewildered eyes.

“It looks like these things also disappear after a time.” Jackie said disappointed. 

“Wait, so even putting Marcello into that tube…” Sabrina began with disbelief in her voice. 

“Was pointless from the beginning.” The whole group groaned in unison. 

At that moment both Sabrina and Janna collapsed to the ground both of them pale and with huge bags under their eyes

“Ah well, looks like we are all overdue for a nap anyways.” Jackie giggled at the snoring pair. 

“Kelly, do you mind?” Jackie asked sweetly to the woolette. 

“All right, hope the smell is not that strong inside.” Kelly let her hair down and everyone but Jackie entered. 

“You are not going in?” Kelly asked. 

“Don’t you find it weird that the ring we made disappeared but this whole place is filled to the top?” Jackie asked contemplating the mountains upon mountains of trash. 

“Well… maybe it is because these things actually bathed in magic back when it was abundant? So they are permanent?” Kelly pensively asked. 

“That might be it… but whatever the reason is, it means that this is the only place we can loot.” Jackie turned to Kelly with a wink. 

“I’ll check the surroundings first, then nap time for me, you can take 5 too, you carry everyone as it is.” Jackie high fived at the woolette before going dumpster diving. 

“Understood, cap’n.” Kelly said with a giggle and a salute to the amused blonde. 

***A few hours later***

“Can we use the scissors now? I’m tired of this place and its stink!” Brittney whined until she suddenly looked like she had an epiphany. 

“Yep, scissors charged, let’s go.” Janna said dispassionately and opened the portal. 

“Did you find anything interesting?” Kelly asked Jackie when they were the only ones left. 

“Yes… But I’ll tell you what it is later.” Jackie put a finger to her lips and winked before throwing herself into the portal and Kelly stood there concerned for a bit before doing the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY!!!! 
> 
> I'm caught up with what I already had up in FF and that means that I can finally continue with the story and everything else I had on the back burner since this took all my efforts. 
> 
> I hope the revisions were good, sincerely I think they are leaps and bounds better than the ones up in FF but it should be obvious that I still have a lot of mistakes, I will sincerely thank anyone that finds and points them out to me. 
> 
> Other than that, I hope you've enjoyed this story so far, thank you all for your time and patience and now off to some new territory at last.


	19. The beast of the arena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, well this is the first NEW chapter I've made since June and boy did it feel good, I feel that my chapters are getting longer and I hope that is because I'm beginning to catch the basics of prose and flow, and not that I'm just getting wordier XD. 
> 
> Well, I won't keep you long hope you enjoy it and I have an important announcement at the end.

The new dimens-

“Is this a fucking coliseum?!” Brittney and Higgs screamed with fear and joy respectively. 

The circular building was filled to the top by an audience of different slimes, beastmen, and a potpourri of humanoids all hollering at the spectacle that was unfolding uncomfortably close to the new arrivals. 

A few dozen monsters were trying to climb up what looked like a building in construction with a purple flag on top, the monsters were fighting on steel beams, janking one another off of ladders, and climbing with their bare hands on the outside of the structure. 

“TIME FOR THE SECOND COURSE!!!” A voice boomed from above them that the team identified as coming from the main V.I.P. lounge in the bleachers. And with that order, a bunch of griffon creatures started to bombard the structure the gladiators were climbing with fire breath. 

“Holy shit! The people here know how to have fun!” Higgs watched amazed with the display as she slowly inched her way forward, meanwhile, the rest of the group was doing the exact opposite inching their way to a sealed exit right behind them. 

“Ok, it appears nobody has noticed us yet if we retreat slowly mayb-.” Marco began with his sights firmly on the exit, then he suddenly deflated. 

“Higgs stole Nachos and is going for the flag, isn’t she?” Marco said with resignation before turning around to see the arena. 

“Nah, she went for it solo.” Jackie said impressed as she saw the onslaught the ginger was causing in the arena. 

“Thanks for the lift!” The warrior mocked as she used the heads of the monsters climbing a ladder as stepping stones to reach halfway to the top. 

“Coming through!” Said Higgs as she sidestepped a bunch of fighting monsters without falling off the beams. 

“Is this for me?!” The ginger said when she stole a sword from a gladiator before she used the head of the same gladiator as a stepping stone to grab onto the beam on top of them. 

“Heads up!” The warrior screamed as she used the gladiators as shields to stop the griffon’s fire breath without stopping her run. 

“And I WIN!!! AHAHAHAHAAHA!” Higgs reached the beam that had the flag on it and after taking the symbol for herself she waved the thing proudly.

The whole group saw the display both amazed and annoyed but the audience’s reaction was a horrified gasp before a heavy silence fell over the whole colosseum. 

“ANOTHER ONE OF THE BEASTS!!!” The voice from the lounge screamed again. 

“THERE ARE MORE ON THE GROUND!!!” The gladiators on the building screamed right after as they pointed at the group. 

The exit behind the group busted open and another couple dozen gladiators came out, all of them armed with lances and shields on the front line and slings in the back, meanwhile, with a few whistles, all the griffons turned their attention exclusively to Higgs. 

“GREAT JOB COLOSSEUM CHAMPION!!!” Greedy Heart screamed. 

“NOT THE TIME FAKE KNIGHT!!!” Higgs said as she desperately evaded griffons diving at her.

“GET THEM!!! GET THEMMMM!!!” Everyone in the audience screamed. 

Higgs was going down the beam structure at a snail’s pace because of the griffons, while the rest of the warriors rushed to the bottom in order to help the other gladiators against the group on the ground. 

Marco, Hekapoo, and Brittney were trying to fight the mob head on, Kelly and Chantelle were trying to deflect some of the shots from the slings, Kelly with her broadsword and Chantelle with a small shield that Mime (Who was currently cowering behind them.) spat out, And Janna, and Sabrina were keeping most of the gladiators at bay with magic. 

“STOP!!!” Jackie screamed and everyone present stopped dead on their tracks, with the distraction a griffin swooped in and grabbed Higgs by the shoulders with its talons. 

“We surrender.” Jackie said as she knelt with her hands up and everyone stared at her with mouth agape. 

“Are you fucking kidd-?” Brittney became beet red and approached Jackie but the cop swept the heiress’s leg and held her head down as soon as she hit the floor. 

“Anyone else disagrees?” Jackie turned to the rest of the group who raised their arms as well. 

“I HAVE A FEW OBJECTIONS!!!” Higgs screamed as she was being paraded around in the air by the griffon. 

*On an underground dungeon* 

The group was cuffed and being led by a wall of guards, all of them keeping them at a distance by the tip of a few dozen spears.

“Bitch deciding for all of us.” Brittney grumbled under her breath. 

“I fucking know.” Higgs and Hekapoo answered in a similar way. 

The group was led to a big cell and promptly locked in. 

“Ok, big guy, we didn’t resist-.” Jackie began once shut in into the cell but the guards pointed at Hekapoo, Brittney and Higgs. 

“We mostly didn’t resist.” Jackie rolled her eyes “But did we break a law or something for you to attack us?” 

The guards promptly got on a phalanx formation and raised their spears. 

“No need to act tough guys, I just wanna know.” Jackie said with a very friendly tone. 

“DO NOT SPEAK WITH THE BEAST!!!” The voice everyone recognized as the one from the lounge echoed from behind the guards. 

The guards opened a path to allow a tiny albino lizard-man pass, the little guy looked at the group up and down, and one by one, trying to assess something unknown for the group until the little lizard turned on his heel to leave. 

“The last one hasn’t broken, will you?” The albino said in a barely audible voice as he retreated with the rest of the guards. 

“What was he on about?” Chantelle said with a grimace and Jackie chuckled. 

“Now that we are on this line of questioning, what were YOU on about?” Brittney growled at Jackie. 

“You didn’t notice?” Jackie said, confused, making most of the group look at her as if she had grown a third arm. 

“You two did notice, didn’t you?” Jackie turned to Marco and Kelly, they both looked solemn, and then they sighed. 

“Yeah… I really wanted to just ignore it.” Marco said disappointed with himself. 

“Hey, whatever it is they are the ones that attacked first!” Kelly defended herself. 

“Okkkk~ how about letting us into the loop.” Sabrina said, turning from one to another. 

“They were terrified of us.” Jackie stated matter of factly and just like that everyone’s eyes widened and their mouth fell agape. 

“Their spears whenever they raised them were trembling, they were too desperate about capturing us, the guards were tripping over themselves to not be too near us but still bring us here…” Kelly started to list off. 

“In the bleachers, parents were protectively hugging their children and other civilians were demanding and pleading for the gladiators to take us down… they really aren’t big fans of us.” Marco finished with a chuckle and like magic, it downed on everybody. 

“We’ve seen this pattern before.” Sabrina said dreading what was going to come next. 

“ANOTHER ONE OF MINA’S GOONS GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!!!” Brittney kneeled as she screamed. 

“I’m not very familiar with Mina’s group but I have to ask, are everyone as strong as that old guy Dallas?” Higgs cautiously asked. 

“Yes, me and sab over here used to be members of the… cult?... terrorist cell?... revolutionary militia? Well, whatever it was we were in.” Janna said that last part with a hint of pride. 

“And~.” Hekapoo nudged the witch to continue. 

“Mr. Dallas was known for being the kindest, docile, and patient general.” Sabrina said with a shaky voice. 

“The weakest for all intent and purposes.” Janna said with a shrug.

“Did you only sucked up generals with that portal or something?” Jackie turned to her oldest friend who shrugged sincerely ignorant of the answer. 

“Yes… she did, I saw who was sucked up.” Sabrina confirmed. 

“So whoever is here, is stronger than the guy who manhandled us all with next to no problem.” Chantelle said massaging the sides of her head.

“How can a deranged looney produce such strong assholes?!” Brittney bowled. 

“I’ve noticed that you seem to underestimate Mina quite a lot.” Higgs said with her head down and her arms crossed.

“Hard to think highly of someone like her.” Jackie mentioned offhandedly and all the other denizens of earth made their agreement apparent. 

“You all have to be kidding me, HELLO, she is the strongest warrior in Mewni’s history for a reason.” Higgs said irritated. 

“Yeah, there are books written of her exploits all over, usually the adventure-historical aisle in any of our libraries is like 10% her.” Kelly said with a shrug. 

“HA!!! That is your STRONGEST warrior?! Bitch I smacked her right out back home!” Brittney managed to stand with her arms bound in order to brag. 

“... Not surprised by this reaction, none of you ever met her back when she was in her right mind.” Hekapoo mentioned offhandedly.

“... Ok now that’s news to me.” Jackie said in surprise. 

“Strongest warrior in Mewni’s history is a very much earned title, that woman was an actual beast when push came to shove and when queen Solaria used that stupid mumbo jumbo on her that turned her into a monster… It fried her brain.” Hekapoo said with a sigh. 

“Was the prejudiced and blood-thirsty thing coming from her brain-frying or did it just make it worse?” Jackie asked seriously. 

“Ha! Nah, that came from being the second in command of the biggest warmonger in Mewni’s history, THEN it got worse from her brain-frying.” Hekapoo said with a chuckle. 

“I can’t really say that spell was all that bad, that woman has like 5% of my age and she is still alive and kicking.” Hekapoo said with a nostalgic smile on her face. 

“Well, whoop-dee-doo for us I guess, but about the situation at hand.” Chantelle said without much emotion.

“We are probably-.” Higgs began to talk but was suddenly shut by a strike to the cell bars. 

A burly two-headed humanoid gave them the stink eye and analyzed them closely, he then pointed at Higgs, Brittney, Chantelle, and Mime.

“You’re up.” He said as menacing as he could. 

“Welp, I guess this is what we are going to be doing for a bit.” Chantelle said dispassionately as she stretched.

“We are not competitors, we are to be executed.” Higgs said matter of fact. 

“And they are dreaming if they think they can pull that shit off.” Brittney said as she cracked her neck. 

Mime just adjusted her posture and expression to match the trio and all four went through the gate, after their retreating forms were nowhere to be seen Jackie raised her voice. 

“I’m taking that other goon with us too, so, Janna, don’t even think about opening a portal before we secure him.” Jackie said with an authoritative tone and Janna sighed in defeat. 

“Aye aye captain.” Janna managed to say.  
*At the arena* 

The four women stood in the middle of the arena… still bound.

“HELLO!!! Anyone gonna do something about this!?” Brittney screamed, showing her shackles to the audience. 

“What part of this is an execution not a competition didn’t you get?” Higgs said glaring at the people in the bleachers. 

“Well fuck it!!!” Brittney turned to stare daggers into the gate that was slowly opening. 

“Look squinty eyes, I’m not in the mood for our usual bet so how about w-?” Higgs tried to keep her cool but Brittney turned around with bloodshot eyes and foaming at the mouth. 

“BEAT THEM WITHIN AN INCH OF THEIR PATHETIC LIVES!!!” Brittney screeched at Higgs. 

“Boy do I love the way you think!” Higgs actually managed a smile before standing side by side with her new ally. 

The horde of executioners that marched in tried to immediately flee because of the pair of rabid women that charged at them just as they came out of the gate. Brittney being the mean girl back at school just took this as a way to vent, she bit off ears, scratched eyes, kicked groins, and pulled off any hair she could get her hands on. Higgs on the other hand just opted to use her shackles as a bludgeon; it was not as funny for the audience that was now trying their damnedest to stifle their laughter but it was just as scary for the warriors that were trying to give the pair the slip off. 

The gladiators that managed to avoid the two that were now just at the foot of the entrance gate found the other two sitting on the opposite side of the arena, Chantelle was not even interested in the fight because she was lazily checking her nails while Mime was waving a small flag around and mimicking a very enthusiastic audience member. The warriors took that as easy prey and with a smirk on their face, they approached the other two objectives they had. 

Chantelle noticed the approaching warriors and stood up with a menacing glare but Mime stood up and held the short woman back, The painted girl pointed at herself and winked, this was enough for Chantelle because she conceded and stood back allowing space for Mime to spit up a red cape. 

Mime stood firm and proud before a trio of warriors showed them the cape, the assailants charged at the performer and the woman didn’t move an inch, the trio crashed into the cape that turned out to be large enough to drape all three of them. As they were stumbling in the dark inside the cape Mime took a red bottle from her pants and showed it to the audience with a showman flare before dramatically taking the cap off and dumping all its contents into a gap on the cape causing a myriad of screams to come out of the pile. 

The audience finally cracked and began laughing at the spectacle, between Brittney fighting like a hysteric high school girl and Mime throwing hot sauce at another warrior’s eyes, the spectators were relaxing enough for loud guffaws to escape their lips. 

When Chantelle noticed that reaction she took the chance and stood up to call for Mime’s attention, and after a short glance they both knew what to do, Chantelle made a hammock with her hands and Mime used it as a trampoline reaching enough height to be face to face with the audience, managing a friendly smile and welcoming body language in mid-air give her the great result of getting a few of the audience members charmed by her. 

The second she launched Mime into the air a few warriors approached Chantelle but the big hipped woman opted to follow the mime’s lead and rather than a fight she turned this into a spectacle, remembering her days in the cheer squad she began hitting her hips side to side in strong motions that made her very generous cheeks jiggle. The sound of dozens of wives smacking their husbands across the back of the head symphonized like an orchestra. 

“Never fucking fails.” Chantelle chuckled before starting to cartwheel her way towards her attackers and with swift motions she leaped over one to land on the one behind him, leaping again to dodge a hit that landed square on the warrior’s head. 

When Mime was about to touch land Chantelle rushed to catch her but the 10 out of 10 catch didn’t have time to settle because of a large number of attackers approaching fast, Chantelle just as she caught Mime threw her into the air again clearing the onslaught that was approaching them, meanwhile Chantelle ran head on to the wave but managed to slide under them also avoiding the problem. Thanks to that all the enemies ended up in a pile. 

While in the air Mime spat out another red cape and threw it at the place where the pile was about to be, the performer landed on one side of the pile while Chantelle positioned herself on the other side and before the cape covered the pile of assailants both Brittney and Higgs threw themselves to the pile just as the cape fell on top. When the pile was draped it started to violently move and make painful sounds from under the coth and Mime and Chantelle took the opportunity to display the action on a “Ta-da” pose as the action kept unfolding from under the red cape. 

The audience was thoroughly impressed and pleased with the spectacle, they were laughing and clapping happily, while in the V.I.P. lounge the tiny albino lizard man growled to himself before screaming. 

“TAKE THEM TO THEIR CELL!!!” The lizard’s voice boomed all throughout the arena.

With that order, the girls appeared from under the cape grumbling to themselves acting more like a pair of grounded girls than two criminals on death row and the other two took a bow and enthusiastically went to the holding cells way before any guard could even come out of the gate to try and get them to the cell. 

*Back in the cell* 

“So who’s next?” Jackie asked in a chill voice to the guards that appeared and they scramble to get into phalanx formation again. 

“Guys, chill, it’s ok.” Jackie brought the tension of the room down with her calm attitude and a friendly smile. 

A guard took a step forward and pointed at Sabrina, Jenna but his finger hesitated when it was time to pick Jackie, the woman in question nodded and edged him on to pick her, reassuring him it was the right thing to do but the guard then dragged his finger over to Hekapoo and the redhead just rolled her eyes went out alongside the pair of witches. 

“Are you guys ready to tell me what happened before we came?” Jackie said with her friendly demeanor persisting, all the guards gave each other a look and quickly got their bearings and turned on their heels to leave. 

“Ok, I’ll wait for our turn, ok?” Jackie said enthusiastically and waved them goodbye. 

“It’s our turn next.” Marco and Kelly stated. 

“Yeah, I hope the other two groups didn’t get too out of hand by then.” There was the only time since they were taken to the cell that Jackie’s smile faltered. 

*In the arena* 

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Sabrina screamed as she ran from enemies that had singled her out for the obvious reason that she was the only one that reacted like one would expect from someone that was thrown into the arena to die. 

The girl screamed and ran and… tripped and fell all over the place, the gladiators were actually starting to have fun chasing the girl around but when they had their fill of fun and tried to actually finish the job they were bombarded by the audience’s boos, and trash. 

The gladiators turned to the other two of the group that had rather sat and watched the whole thing unfold instead of helping their comrade and said duo just looked at them confused and shrugged at their would-be assailants before turning to each other. 

“What did I tell you? I knew the audience would up and fall for her, she is just too damn loveable.” Janna cackled a bit. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll give you that one, you have one cute student.” Hekapoo giggled at the sight of Sabrina looking like a deer caught in headlights at the audience cheering for her. 

The tall, mousy girl kept looking from one side to another at the audience cheering and screaming “You can do it.” “You are great.” and the like, she really didn’t know how to react until she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“How about we fight back now?” Janna asked her with a confident smirk on her face and turning her head to the other side she saw Hekapoo with a similar smirk. 

“Right!” Sabrina got a resolute look on her face and got in position alongside her other two teammates. 

*With Brittney and her group* 

The girls were leisurely walking towards their cell with guards that were comfortable enough with them to be 5 bodies apart from them, Higgs and Brittney were still grumbling under their breath and Mime was happily bobbing her head rhythmically alongside them, but Chatelle was a few feet in front with a gloomy walk. 

“Hey, thick ass! Why are you all the way over there?” Higgs stopped mumbling to call for the girl. 

“Nothing much.” Chantelle hastily replied without turning or stopping her pace. 

“What happened to you? You usually are all over me laughing and putting me in some stupid hold and suddenly you are keeping your distance diligently.” Higgs ranted more to herself than to the one receiving the rant. 

“Shouldn’t you like this change?” Chantelle said in a flat voice still dutifully walking towards the holding cell, Higgs just raised her brow and the ginger completely missed the face of dawning realization from Brittney. 

They soon entered the holding cell and Chantelle just leaned into the wall keeping as further away from the rest as possible. 

“Ok, I suppose we just wai-.” Chantelle was interrupted by a guard using a hook at the end of a long stick to grab the chains of her shackles and hung her up on a hook on the wall. 

“MOTHER FUCKER!!! FINALLY DOING YOUR FUCKING JOB, YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT!!! LET ME DOWN!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” Chantelle protested at the top of her lungs as she flailed her body desperately to try and get herself down, this outburst came to the surprise of Mime and Higgs. 

“Okkkkk~ there is something up.” Higgs said with curiosity. 

“There is nothing up.” Brittney said matter of factly, the heiress approached the hysterical woman and managed to stare her down, when Chantelle calmed down a little Brittney touched their foreheads. 

“No one will notice, don’t worry.” Brittney whispered and promptly hanged herself just like Chantelle was to the wall. 

“Why so submissive, boss? This is unlike you.” Chantelle was on the verge of tears but managed a smirk. 

“For as much as I don’t want to, I need to learn to play nice with that fucking cop.” Brittney said reassuringly. 

“Yeah, that girl has a charisma that I just cannot deny and it just infuriates me.” Higgs said with apparent annoyance and turned to the bowl cut girl with the same annoyance. 

“So that emotion was because you are ashamed of your hairy pits or something?” Higgs said with a low voice as she eyed the mentioned hairy pits and hanged herself right beside Chantelle. 

“Yes! YES!!! It was because of my armpits!!! You’re completely right!” Chantelle desperately said with a panicked laugh that managed to scare the warrior but then Higgs crunched her brow and started sniffing around. 

“Shit! I think a rat died here.” Higgs said with disgust and she had to immediately dodge a kick that Brittney threw her way. 

“What the fuck, squinty eyes?” Higgs said both confused and infuriated until she saw Chantelle desperately biting her lip and choking down tears.

“Oooohhh~.” It finally dawned on Higgs. 

Chantelle really didn’t want to say out loud that Higgs just noticed her biggest, heck, probably only insecurity, always having to rush to the showers the second the practice ended, drowning herself in perfume every day, it usually didn’t get that bad if she showered in the morning and evening and even then she usually had perfume for emergencies but thanks to this whole fiasco she had gone for nearly a month without a shower and the “Dead rat” comment felt like a compliment, she could barely stand her own smell, she was dizzy from her own god damn BO and embarrassed like she probably hasn’t been since grade school, until…

“Higgs, what the fuck are you doing!?” Chantelle screeched in panic when she noticed Higgs’s face buried in her armpit taking a deep sniff. 

Higgs returned her head and gave a sigh to then stare at Chantelle straight in the eyes. 

“Is that it?” Higgs said as seriously as she could.

“What? You literally compared it to a decaying carcass a second ago.” Chantelle got into the defensive. 

“And that is not even in the top one hundred of worst smells I’ve ever endured and girlie let me tell you, once you get to my age you will know what bad body odor is.” Higgs acted like an old lady telling a horror story… and Chantelle actually giggled. 

“You are younger than me though, and “you are going to smell worse when you are older” is not all that reassuring.” Chantelle’s tears finally started to flow but it accompanied a cute high-pitched laugh. 

“Oh shush missy, don’t even think I have little experience with this, I’ve smelled bogs that would make you smell like soap… and the bog is number 90.” Higgs bragged and when she saw Chantelle looking up at her in the most vulnerable that the redhead has ever seen her, the warrior’s face softened considerably and locked the big hipped woman’s head under her chin. 

“C’mon missy, dry those tears, I already told you, you are one of the strongest warriors I’ve ever met and I’ve met many, you don’t know how much it hurts to see someone this strong broken for something like this.” Higgs said with a warmth that nobody would have guessed could come from her. 

“Whatever you say, granma.” Chantelle good-natured ribbed but Higgs blushed and looked on as if she had actually just met her granddaughter. 

“Oh shush you.” Higgs snuggled up to Chantelle for a second before Chantelle retreated herself. 

“Hey, Where’s Mime?” Chantelle finally noticed the missing face. 

Turning around they saw Mime without her shackles opening the cell, the performer turned around and winked before approaching them with a wire in hand. 

“Well look at the rebel.” Brittney said sincerely impressed. 

“Yeah, shouldn't we listen to Officer. Thomas?” Chantelle asked as Mime freed her from her shackles but Mime just shrugged. 

“Oh well, who cares, wanna go find that other Mina’s dude? Maybe we can knock him out and make the escape easy.” Higgs said with a macabre chuckle. 

“Boy do I love the way you think.” Brittney said with just as macabre a voice and with that both Higgs and Brittney ran out of the cell leaving Chantelle and Mime alone. 

“Please be honest with me… you noticed the smell and just didn’t want to be locked in with it.” Chantelle said exhausted but good-naturedly, Mime got a blush that could be visible from under her makeup and desperately tried to deny it with every gesture she knew and Chantelle giggled again with that cute high pitched voice. 

“Don’t worry if I could run away from it I would too.” Chantelle responded with understanding and Mime relaxed immediately. 

Meanwhile, with Higgs and Brittney, the duo had made enough distance from the other two, and taking this opportunity Brittney stopped the redhead. 

“Not even I have helped her so much with that… Thank you.” Brittney was brief and looked embarrassed but those words felt sincere. 

“Why? I just took a whiff and she really isn’t that bad.” Higgs shrugged. 

“Bitch, don’t play with me, I was seeing double just by having that besides me, I would have surely fainted if I had done what you did.” Brittney said with her usual irritation and avoided Higgs's gaze. 

“Ha! And that’s why I must say, don’t underestimate experience.” Higgs said smugly. 

“Whatever you say grandma.” Brittney tried a snide remark but it sounded warm and light-hearted. 

“And don’t you forget it, young missy.” Higgs said before going back to look for the prisoner. 

*With Jackie and her group* 

The group was just lounging around waiting for their turn until a hard clank resounded in the cell, turning their heads they saw the guard that spared Jackie going into the arena, a small bear body with a crocodile head looked at them with conflicted eyes and with a sigh opened the cell. The group came out in an orderly fashion and stood there waiting for orders but the amalgamation took another key and opened their shackles. 

“You want to meet your comrade, don’t you?” The guard said with apprehension. 

“No, I want to apprehend him, I’m a law enforcer, he is on the loose.” Jackie said matter of factly, the guard looked at her with eyes full of hope before turning around and gesturing for them to follow. 

“That thing appeared like a month ago right in the middle of a competition in the arena, it quickly flew into a frenzy, attacking everything in its path screaming about “killing all monsters” but that thing is worse than any story we use to scare our young, it kept fighting and fighting and fighting for three days straight until it literally collapsed from hunger, we managed to shackle it to the biggest iron ball we could find and locked it in the deepest cell we could find… but it still breaks out every week and wrecks havoc, if you say you can help us, please, I beg you to do so.” The guard retold what happened as he guided the group to the cell in question and when they arrived, Brittney’s group arrived at the same time. 

“What the heck?” Brittney said when she found herself face to face with Jackie. 

“Hey, the man of the hour is right here.” Jackie pointed at the cell right beside them. 

“I’ll give you the key… just allow me enough time to run, please.” The guard pleaded, his hand shaking as he handed over the key. 

“Will do, and thank you so much.” Jackie said with a warm voice when she took the key. 

“WHO’S THERE!?!?!?” An even bigger booming voice than the one from the tiny lizard came from the cell that made the guard squeak and run like a bat out of hell, the voice sounded cracked and guttural. 

“Hey dude, remember me? I’m the officer that was in the fight on Mewni castle, if you don’t I guess you at least remember the leader of the knights?” Jackie hooked her arm around Marco’s shoulder with a confident smile, and Marco despite being surprised by Jackie’s gesture and being in an awkward position he managed a glare. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!” The voice screamed and quickly an enormous iron ball crashed on to the cell’s bars that destroyed them, the group barely dodged it. 

“Whoa, dude, I was going to open it.” Jackie said with a very obvious hint of sarcasm.

“YOU ALL ARE ALSO IN MY SIGHTS!!!” The voice (the group could swear) shook the place. 

“Wanna go meet with Janna and co. just to be sure?” Jackie said with her voice just slightly shaking. 

“Aye.” The group said once again dodging another attack from the steel ball. 

*In the arena* 

The arena was littered with vines, ice, stalactites, and small craters made by bombs, the trio was at the center of the circle basking on the cheers and congratulations, or at least Janna and Hekapoo were with the former making magical fireworks to show off and the latter hyping up the audience a bit more, meanwhile, Sabrina was using every ounce of her willpower to not crawl up into a ball.

The mousy witch slowly but surely got charmed by the enthusiasm and joy from the audience, her slouch slowly disappeared as she stood straight and her face started to contort itself into a weary smile when the “weary” disappeared completely from her smile and she decided to wave at the public the gate behind her was violently broken and the sound of it made Sabrina immediately retreat to a fetal position. 

“What the fuck?” Janna and Hekapoo turned to the broken gate and the rest of the group ran towards them. 

“Hey, I got the key for the shackles.” Jackie enthusiastically screamed, showing the key in her hand.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!” The voice echoed not far behind them. 

“Oh yeah, we also found the other goon.” Jackie said while pointing at the gate. 

The goon finally revealed himself, the guy was just using a pair of pants that were in tatters and being held in place by a tied up rope, the man’s scars were noticeable as they marred his midsection with half a dozen big scars all of there were either scratches or bites, his long and disheveled hair covered his face but it didn’t manage to hide the scars that were also in his face, finally, his musculature was barely there as his malnutrition was apparent but somehow his right arm shackled to the iron ball was an exaggerated cartoon of a bodybuilder… his right being his only arm. 

“Oh shit… this guy.” Janna said with displeasure. 

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Jackie said as she unshackled everyone else. 

“How does ‘bigger savage than crazy Mina’ sound to you?” Janna stated plainly and everyone swallowed a lump in their throat. 

“Not good.” The group answered. 

The man in question stood there panting, hunger and fatigue being quite the obstacle for him. The audience though was shocked silent, everyone was trembling and protectively hugging their dearests or just crawling into a ball themselves, nobody dared make a move and make themselves a target. 

“Mr. Noah please just com-.” Sabrina took a step forward to try and reason with the man but. 

“TRAITORRRRR!!!” Noah took a swing with the steel ball he was bound to. 

“Earth wall!!!” Janna chanted and a pillar of stone appeared in the path of the ball, the pillar was just barely able to slow it down as the ball completely wrecked it and continued its path towards Sabrina but that half a second the pillar gained was enough for the witch to duck under the attack. 

“Sab, really, What experience with this guy made you think you can reason with him!?” Janna berated her student. 

Noah janked the ball back to him and with a jump, he kicked it with both his feet launching the thing directly at Janna. 

“Steel wall!!!” Now Sabrina chanted and a thick wall of steel sprouted in front of Janna and while it stopped the attack the ball still managed to break through the wall. 

Noah again janked the ball back to him and caught the heavy instrument into his hand and charged forward. The Man swung at Marco and the Knight barely dodged and dodged and dodged as Noah kept swinging the steel boulder with ease. 

Kelly pounced at Noah’s unprotected back, or at least she thought was unprotected because with the next swing the one-armed man let go of the ball turning the bludgeon into a whip that managed to hit both Marco and Kelly. 

“That ball is a nuisance.” Hekapoo fumed and with her scissors in hand she charged directly at Noah. 

The one-armed man threw the ball into the air and janked it back to earth directly on top of Hekapoo but the furry woman just smirked. With quick movements, Hekapoo shredded the ball with her scissors and turned to the attacker with a smug smile. 

“Ha! Now wha-?” Hekapoo didn’t even finish the sentence before Noah hit her square on the jaw, the hit made her do a flip and slide along the floor completely knocked out when she fell flat. 

“Bad idea, furry ghost!” Janna screamed to the unconscious redhead and tried to bind the berserker with vines, an action that Sabrina assisted with. As the one-armed warrior was being constraint Chantelle ran up to his back and applied a chokehold, after a few seconds that felt like an eternity his arm appeared to limp but from his throat, he emitted a guttural growl and he snapped the vines with sheer force, Chantelle eased her choke for half a second due to the surprise and the sudden jerk that action made using that half a second Noah managed to put his hand on her throat. 

“That might have been a worse idea.” Chantelle choked out as she struggled against the hand that could encircle her whole throat and lift her with no problems. 

“Get your dirty hand off of her!!!” Both Higgs and Brittney hit Noah straight in the solar plexus and it actually succeeded in making him recoil but after that little shock passed Noah lifted Chantelle high and used her as a bludgeon against Higgs and Brittney. 

“ROCK PILLAR!!!” Sabrina chanted and before Noah could get another hit in another pillar sprouted from the ground and again landed in the solar plexus, that hit was enough to bend the berserker over for a few seconds before he pounced at the three women in front of him. 

With him being in the air Nachos swooped into him and succeeded to bite his grotesquely muscular arm, the dragon clenched her jaw but the man challenged her by flexing his muscle proving harder for the dragon to close her jaws but not impossible as this was the first challenge of strength Noah was having trouble with since reaching this dimension, but the berserker was not a fair fighter because he janked his arm up with the dragon still attached and then slammed her into the ground with enough force to make a dust cloud. 

Before the dust settled Noah felt that small weight on his neck once again as Chantelle put him on a chokehold again this time it felt three times as strong, and if he could see Chantelle’s distorted by fury face he would have no doubt why, Noah tried to grab the woman again but he felt a jank and saw the dragon still attached to his arm but this time the dragon’s fangs had finally gotten a good grip on his arms and the dragon proved to be much more efficient than the magic vines at keeping him in check. Not finished yet with the assault Higgs and Brittney appeared from the dust and proceeded to keep beating the man on the solar plexus. 

Noah felt his knees buckling from the pain but he gritted his teeth and used Nachos to hit the two women in front of him and then began to choke Chantelle again but this time the woman attempted to put him in an arm lock and with him focused on the short woman he felt another chokehold and a second person helping with the arm lock. 

In his surprise he saw the officer that said would let him out of his cell helping the other woman with the arm lock from the corner of his eyes he saw a god damned hairball choking him, his arm was weakened because of the dragon’s bites and his core ached something fierce, then it got worse as he felt another strong strike to the same spot again, looking down he saw a horribly nasty bruise that was beginning to swell and then he saw the leader of the knights on a karate pose and give a strike after strike to his battered midsection. 

With one last burst of strength, Noah managed a spinning lariat that shook off his attackers but his legs no longer responded and he would be vomiting if the rats and roaches he ate in the cell hadn’t evacuated his system completely a few hours ago, he fell to his knees but in front of him as the dust cloud faded he saw a trembling Sabrina with a wooden bottle in her hands and a horde of repugnant monsters. 

Sabrina saw a malnourished man on his knees trembling from hunger and pain, marred with a myriad of new scars along with a bruise that she had no doubt any more movement would turn into a serious internal hemorrhage, and despite all this, the man was still willing to fight, Noah still growled and his posture threatened to pounce if a single step was made on her part but Sabrina still took that step and kneeled in front of him. 

“Please, Mr. Noah, you are very hurt, please come with us, I will keep you fed and nurse you back to health, just come with us back home, I won’t even tell you to stop attacking monsters but no matter what you do here won’t matter so just save your strength for home, please, I beg you.” Sabrina pleaded as she inched the bottle forward. 

Noah looked at her for a few seconds before furrowing his brow and opening his mouth, but whatever was going to come out of it was quickly shut as Mime gave the man a hit to the back of the head with a baseball bat. The beast of a man finally hit the floor and Sabrina looked confused at Mime who answered with a worried shrug, with a sigh of resignation Sabrina sucked the man up to the bottle. 

The audience was stunned silent before bursting out into cheers and joy, tears of happiness and relief flowed without stop and everyone was screaming their praises to the warriors that were now sprawled around the arena all with varying amounts of injuries. 

“Think this means they’ll let us stay the night? I don’t think we can manage just going to the next dimension.” Marco said while he helped Kelly stand up. 

“God, I hope so.” Jackie groaned lying face down on the dirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew I suppose you guys don't know but I said something in FF that went along the lines "One chapter, one dimension." and it just didn't jive with this chapter, there were still a lot of things I wanted to put and if I left them in this dimension made the plans I had for next chapter easier so yeah stay tuned for the next chapter that is basically part 2 of this one. 
> 
> But that being said a friend of mine that does not has the best grasp of English convinced me to try and start to write in my native language (Spanish) and long story short now I'm writing a (so far not released) Avatar the last air bender fic in Spanish... and truth be told I felt so good writing what little I have in that, that I'm debating with myself if I should make all of my future work in Spanish. 
> 
> What I want to say is don't worry, I'm not changing this fic into Spanish or taking another half a year to make a translation but my other works may get in the way of this one and if as a reader of mine you don't speak Spanish this might be the only fic I have for you... that makes me sad, I might give this whole thing some more thought. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this and even if you don't thanks a million for your time and patience.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...This happened, sorry for the delay but well it is a big chapter and I was pretty nervous about publishing it because it has the first lewd scene and I'm quite insecure about it, I'm not expecting comments to be nice but I sure hope they are helpful, if you have oppinions on the lewd scene please tear it down but do point out how can I improve please. 
> 
> Other than that I won't keep you long, I hope you have a good time.

Hekapoo bolted out of her slumber and to her surprise she was on a bed… for as much as you could call a stack of hay and a blanket a bed but she was more inclined to bitch about the pain in her jaw than about the accommodations. 

“Finally up?” Marco cooed from beside her. 

“I’ll guess we won, huh?” Hekapoo said before winsing because of the pain in her jaw. 

“Yeah, barely that guy was a real monster.” Marco said with some apprehension. 

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME,SCUM?!” A muffled but powerful scream echoed around what Hekapoo finally discerned was a small empty room with the exception of the whole team lying on beds similar to hers. 

“CAN YOU LET US SLEEP FOR FIVE FUCKING MINUTES!?!?” Higgs groggily and grumpily screamed from one corner of the room where her, Brittney and Chantelle were huddling together. 

“Kelly can’t you just put him in your hair, pretty please?” Jackie lethargically groaned out. 

“I had him there for two minutes and he almost teared my hair out of my scalp, no fucking way.” Kelly grumbled. 

“I keep telling you one ‘eternal sleep’ spell and we are done.” Janna stumbled to her feet but Sabrina grabbed her and forced her to lie down. 

“I’ll pacify him again.” Sabrina said but Mime from the corner opposite from where Chantelle and Co. were lying stood up and with bags under her eyes that no amount of makeup could mask she started to angrily make a bunch of gestures. 

“Yeah, frenchie is right, every time you ‘pacify’ him it lasts for like 20 minutes.” Brittney said with her usual annoyance. 

“And if Janna does it, the best he can hope for is permanent damage!” To the surprise of the whole group Sabrina actually held her ground. 

“WHY DO YOU EVEN GIVE HALF A SHIT ABOUT THAT PSYCHO!?!?!?” Brittney unsurprisingly stubbornly pressed on. 

“BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY REASON MY PARENTS ARE ALIVE!!!” Sabrina screamed to Brittney’s face, the heiress’s body language became relaxed but her frown didn’t falter. 

“Yeah… Elaborate, I’m waiting.” Brittney demanded but the little wooden bottle blasted off of Sabrina’s hands right into Brittney’s nose. 

“Ok, You die, mother fucker!” Brittney grabbed the growling and struggling bottle and was about to smash it into the ground. 

“IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THAT BOTTLE HE GETS OUT!!!” Sabrina finally panicked but not for what they thought she would. 

Sabrina took the bottle and hugged it to her chest in order to keep it still, and desperately began to chant as a purplish pink cloud covered the bottle, then suddenly a second pair of hands held the bottle and also joined in the chant making the cloud to darken in color, thanks to Janna’s assistance the growls and screams from the bottle slowly turned into loud snores. 

“Ok, about that story.” Janna looked at Sabrina in the eyes before the door was carefully coaxed open by the guard that had the bear body and crocodile head. 

“I hope you slept well.” The guard said tentatively.

“You could say that.” Jackie stood up still tired and with Marcello using her hair as a nest. 

“Hmmmm… Are you up for some food and a bath?” The guard sheepishly said. 

“YES!!! SWEET MOTHER OF GOD YES!!!” All of Chantelle’s tiredness and drowsiness melted away the second she heard the word bath and then she bolted to her feet and ran towards the door. 

“I guess we are.” Kelly shrugged and laughed. 

***At the baths***

“So all of you guys use public baths?” Jackie was fascinated as her and the group (sans Chantelle who ran before anyone could say anything and Marco who preferred to keep his distance from the girls in this circumstance) were given a tour of the public bath house.

“Yes we do, by the way this whole ‘plumbing sistem’ you talk about sounds fascinating.” The guard said before looking at the group. 

“Are you sure you don’t want Marco wit-” The crocodile tried to inquire but he was quickly interrupted. 

“No mixed bathing, just a cultural thing.” Jackie said with her usual charisma. 

“Well I mean, When in Rome do what Romans do.” Janna cackled a bit and everyone turned their frown to her. 

“What? We’ve all seen him naked and suddenly he can’t see us?” Janna retaliated but the frowns just got deeper, with a grumble and an arms cross she relented. 

“Well… moving on, there are three baths here, a cold one, a hot one and a warm one, judging by where Marco went he is in the hot one, I would recommend the warm one, it’s the standard.” He explained. 

“Thanks for allowing us a private use of the public baths.” Jackie said with a wave goodbye. 

“This is the least we could do.” The crocodile bowed and took his leave. 

“So where is Chantelle?” Brittney asked. 

“She’s probably already in the bath, she was pretty desperate for one.” Higgs shrugged. 

***In the dressing room***

Chantelle happily hummed to herself as she checked a whole lot of shelves filled to the brim with bottles, the big hipped woman was giddy by this bottles because she giggled and subtly danced to herself as she bend down to thoroughly examine every bottle though that was not a great idea because she was completely naked with only a towel draped over her shoulders. 

“Sir. Diaz, it is rude to stare and it is downright illegal to peep.” Chantelle gave a little laugh and gave a second bigger one after the sound of a squeak and a bunch of things falling came from behind her after that little statement. 

“I just came here to get dressed! I thought you would be in the bath already!” Marco came in talking a mile a minute while he covered his eyes. 

“Ohhh Sir.Diaz.” Chantelle somehow cooed in her professional voice. 

“I’ve already seen you in the nude, front row seat and all, is it bad to reciprocate?” Chantelle went full business mode. 

_ “NO!!!”  _ Greedy Heart appeared in Marco’s chest and happily screamed. 

“Yes!!!” Marco in a jerk reaction took his hands off his eyes and beat his chest in order to calm it down, this was a mistake because that allowed his eyes to wander and what he saw he can only describe as divine. 

Chantelle’s diminutive stature made everything about her fit like a globe, her small perky B cup breast looked perfect for her frame, her dark pink nipples had the areola slightly raised but her pert nipples refused to be outstaged as they noticeably crowned her breast. Her waist wasn’t as thin as it could be and not by a long shot as fit as her back and shoulders that Marco had seen before but it looked soft and inviting and that statement went ten fold for her milky, thick thighs. 

Letting his eyes lick all over he finally locked into the one place he really didn’t want to be caught staring at, he stood there stupefied looking at a thick patch of pubic hair sitting atop the prominent and reddened clitoris and labia, Marco swallowed hard before Chantelle slowly ran her fingers over her pubis and with her hair intertwined with her fingers she lightly pulled displaying her sex just a bit more for the knight to admire. 

“-stening to me?” Chantelle’s words finally pierced through Marco’s daze but the knight could only give a confused “huh?” in response. 

“I said ‘do you think I should shave?’ Getting a razor in this trip has been impossible, if I hadn’t lost track of time in the gym I would have done so before going to the Butterflys’s get together.” Chantelle feigned ignorance of Marco’s leer and thanks to her talking the Latino managed to keep eye contact with her, noticing this Chantelle’s expression turned from formal to smug and a slight move from her shoulder was all it took for Marco’s eyes to race back to her pubis and he stayed there looking at her tug at her pubic hair for a few seconds and without noticing he began to speak. 

“I like it hai- I mean, if it is not uncomfortable for you this is not really a priority.” Marco finally noticed what he was doing and sputtered out a more professional answer before finally forcing his eyes back to Chantelle’s own, and sincerely he could feel the sneer in her gaze before it turned into an excited one. 

“Oh yeah, did you know these guys use oils instead of soap? They have quite the selection and they are all scented, here, I was picking good ones that would match all of us.” Chantelle turned around and bent over to take hold of a bottle of oil but Marco only registered the beautiful, milky white, bountiful, and soft looking heart shape right in front of him, said heart shape framed perfectly those inviting red lips that were just begging for him to just kneel and kiss them, he felt his temperature rising and his breath became elaborate and hard, his knees began to shake and he tentatively raised his foot to take a step forward. 

“ _ GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!”  _ Greedy Heart snapped him back to attention and he put his foot back. 

Still way too aroused to think straight Marco saw how Chantelle stood up with a bottle in her hands and offered to him. 

“This one seems like it would fit you perfectly, hope you like it.” Chantelle said nicely but all Marco could hear was mockery and he didn’t mind one bit.

Marco wordlessly outstretched his arm and saw how Chantelle keeping her distance gently put the bottle in his hand, they both stared at each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity before the short woman giggled and still keeping her distance she started to take her leave with a sway to her hips and a playful wave goodbye… before she slipped on the oily floor. 

Chantelle was falling fast on her back so Marco hurried to catch her but the oil on the floor made the knight slip too and they both crashed into the ground with Chantelle on top of him, he hugged her protectively with one arm around her waist with his hand resting on top her belly and his second arm on her hip with his hand grabbing on to her thigh but what alarmed Chantelle was the face full of armpit Marco was having right now. This made the woman finally show some shame. 

“Marco, God, I’m sorry, I’m gonna wash up right now… just… just… Marco?” Chantelle’s panic slowly turned to curiosity as she saw the knight’s dazed and lost gaze as he began to nuzzle into the hairy pit near his face. 

“Are you?” Chantelle saw the Latino’s flushed face as he moved closer to the source of her foul stench and took several long deep whiffs. 

“ _ Ahhhh, just fuck it. _ ” Greedy Heart gave a resigned let’s go. 

“Eeep!” Chantelle’s defences were finally breached when she felt the warm, slimy touch of Marco’s tongue dancing on her arm pit, her face flushed as she saw the dazed man in front of her enjoying the stuff that she would rather die than letting someone find out it existed. 

A chill ran through the woman’s spine, she centered her attention to the lost man right below her arm and felt light headed, she had been holding herself back, content with just teasing but that didn’t mean she was unaffected by it and more than anything else she was dreadfully backed up.

“Is it good?” Chantelle cooed and that caught Marco’s attention and when he turned to look at her face he saw something that he was amazed to see, a weird crazed smile stretched along the short woman’s face, a smile that actually reminded him of Mina’s. 

“ _ Kid, don’t answer, I’m scared. _ ” Greedy Heart begged its host that heeded the request but it was probably because he was still happily lapping the sweat off of the woman instead of any trust towards his cursed organ. But then Chantelle’s face contorted into one of obvious fake embarrassment. 

“You don’t like it? I’m sorry, I should have read the signs right, I was about to take it further.” Chantelle said with just as obviously fake coyness. 

“ _ Marco, answer the nice lady. _ ” Greedy Heart flatly demanded and Marco turned to see her with hope filled eyes. 

“I love it.” Marco stammered and the crazed smile returned to Chantelle’s lips, she opened her mouth to say something but before she could. 

“Echo!” Kelly’s playfull voice reverberated around the walls and echoed through the big hall. With surprising speed Chantelle scurried to her feet and managed to use a low cabinet to hide Marco who she was now holding with her thighs and smothering with her crotch. 

“Heya there, girls!” Chantelle said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm to the approaching group. 

“Hey, we thought you would already be done with your bath.” Kelly answered, getting near her. 

“The baskets for clothes are over there.” Chantelle pointed towards a row of baskets that everyone just “oh” at and went to deposit theirs there. 

“I’m sure you saw them but the towels are just above.” Chantelle called from her spot. 

Unbeknown to everyone else and betraying her calm demeanor Chantelle had begun to subtly hump Marco’s face from behind the cabinet, the smell from her crotch was ten times more pungent than that of her armpit, the stench felt like it was piercing Marco’s mind with every intake of air and he soon got drunk off of it, the Latino went from lightly struggling against Chantelle’s vice like grip from her thighs to lightly cupping and caressing the soft flesh of her thighs and ass, at the same time Marco’s tongue shoot out to meet Chantelle’s humping hips. 

“So what are you doing?” Kelly innocently asked. 

“Oh, I was looking for soap but found out these guys use scented oils instead, I was actually picking up what oil would be best for each of us.” Chantelle said with an strangely deep sigh. 

“Ugh, let her, she gets very excited about perfume and the like, we get in her to explain what she is doing and we finish this bath by midnight.” Brittney said with what sounded like annoyance but hers and Chantelle’s smile made it look like it was a sort of endearing action between the two. 

“The woman knows me, I’m almost done, just go to the bath and I’ll be down in a jiffy.” Chantelle gave them a thumbs up.

“By the way have you seen Marco?” Kelly asked as she draped herself with a towel, Chantelle responded by bending over and giving a hard open palm hit to the cabinet. 

“Listen to this, I was completely naked looking over the oils and suddenly I heard this girly scream and someone falling to the floor, when I looked over the guy had already ran off over there.” Chantelle laughed and pointed to a big open door to the side. 

“Oh he went to the hot bath area, we are going to go to the warm one, it’s over there, we’ll wait for you and please try not to torture the poor guy.” Kelly said going after the rest of the group that had already left after hearing Chantelle’s explanation. 

“I’ll be right there and no promises.” Chantelle happily said before taking a sharp intake of air. 

The second they found themselves alone Chantelle dropped all pretense and used her hands to press the knight’s face harder to her crotch to then begin to hump Marco’s face so hard that the back of his head was continuously bumping the cabinet. His hands caressing her thighs and ass were sending small bolts of pleasure all through her spine but that didn’t compare to his nose rubbing her clit each time harder because of her redoubling efforts to hump his face. 

Marco for his part was just lost with what he was sensing, his nose was still picking the pungent stuffy smell of sweat coming from the crotch that was using him as a saddle but the smell was getting mixed in with the sweet smell of her slowly dripping juices, his hands were feeling, kneading and pinching every inch of flesh it was available to them and he wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to feel her or if he was begging for air, his ears entered heaven when her calm conversation with the girls turned into a ragged breathing that tried to hide moans that every so often managed to escape anyways and when those sounds turned into an strained sigh of relieve his mouth tasted something that he could sincerely not place, and his only opinion of it was ‘I need more of this’ as he greedily lapped and sucked every last drop he could find off of Chantelle. 

“Boy, I needed that.” Chantelle said to herself with a deep sigh of relief and a giggle before releasing Marco’s head and meeting their gazes. 

“Good boy.” Chantelle lightly petted Marco’s head as he looked on dazed and confused, with another giggle Chantelle put her lips near the knight’s ear. 

“My dirty clothes are on the third basket by the left, do whatever you need to so long it’s there when I come back.” Chantelle whispered before planting a quick peck on Marco’s forehead. 

The woman wasn’t kidding about looking for oils for the rest of the group because with practiced ease she went from cabinet to cabinet taking very specific oils while muttering to herself “Kelly, Mime, Jackie…” and without even looking back with her arms full of bottles of oil she went towards the bath, now alone Marco turned his head towards the basket. 

“ _ No!!! Kiddo, Fucking stop!!! We just licked a hairy, sweaty armpit but we have more dignity than jerking it to the smell of dirty laun- _ ” Greedy Heart impassionately berated. 

* **In the hot bath room***

“ _ Ok, kiddo, I stand corrected, we are not above masturbating to dirty laundry, BUT YOU ARE TWO GOOD JERKS AWAY FROM RIPPING IT OFF!!!”  _ Greedy Heart indignantly screamed at his host that was in the corner of the bathroom with Chantelle’s lycra shorts tightly pressed to his face as he furiously beat his meat. 

“CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR FIVE SECONDS!?!?!? First you pester me to run, then you urge me forwards and now you want me to stop!!! Can you make your damn mind!!!” Marco finally took the shorts off his face in order to retaliate. 

“ _ Kiddo, before you even start, it wasn’t me, and hell I don’t even think it was you, it was her, it was all her! I swear! _ ” Greedy Heart said with honest to goodness fear in its voice, this surprised Marco a fair bit and decided not to press this topic further since it appeared he was just not ready for it. 

“Ok, ok, I’m calm now I just need to get this back-” Marco said taking a defeated deep breath and shaking the lycra shorts in his hand before going outside the room. 

As he threw the garment back in the basket he felt a chill down his spine, turning around as fast as he could he saw nothing and that stayed the same as he carefully scanned the room up and down, completely naked he inched his way back towards the bath scanning carefully his surroundings, floor and ceiling (you learned a lot after fighting monsters for as long as he has) and when he finally reached the bath he took a deep breath now feeling somewhat safe. 

“Didn’t take you for the type to steal dirty laundry, your highness.” A deep manly voice called for Marco from inside the water making the knight to jump and screech in surprise. 

Looking into the water he saw small ripples before a figure burst out of its surface, looking at him in the eyes was a woman with sharp features, short hair and her entire body from the top of her neck to the tip of her toes were covered in cyan and light green scales and despite being 100% nude it looked like the scales made something like a cat suit that hugged her modest curves, her face was the most human like with the scales just barely spread over her cheeks leaving the front of her face with her nose, brow, forehead, and her beautiful full lips being completely uncovered by the reptilian skin but still she stared at him him with her slit, yellow eyes and completely stoic expression but the knight just groaned with just a hint of irritation. 

“Could you not scare me like that.” Marco said before joining her in the pool. 

“Excuse my insolence, your highness, but I just really didn’t want to interrupt.” Her bass voice boomed despite her keeping it just above a whisper making the Latino blush. 

“You saw me?” He said embarrassed. 

“Your highness, you were at it for a while, I managed to finish my bath before you were even sweating.” She gave a cute giggle that contrasted with the Barry White like voice that made said giggle and Marco scoffed. 

“Again with your highness, I already told you, Marco, MARCO.” The knight said dramatically pointing at himself.

“Really, I barely ever even hear you speak and I can’t even hear you say my name.” Marco crossed his arms and gave the woman a mocking look. 

“Forgive me your highness but it is what it is.” The woman shrugged before leaning into her arms on the edge of the pool allowing her body to float slightly above the surface. 

Despite Marco staring at her, he was not staring at her trim cut and athletic body but at a little stump that was just above her butt crack, on said stump a small thin tail was beginning to peek above the skin. 

“It’s gonna take a month before it needs another trim, when it does I’m hoping for your assistance again, your highness.” The woman didn’t even turn around to speak, feeling Marco’s eyes in her stump. 

“Are you sure we should? Most of the girls on the team don’t even know about your species’ reputation, if they found out nothing would happen… and sincerely it freaks me out that I have to well, mutilate you every two months.” Marco said, embarrassed and avoiding her gaze. 

“No worries about that, your highness, I can take care of it myself.” The woman hand waved her answer. 

“... And about the girls? Come on you and Chantelle are pretty much blood sisters by now, you think they are actually going to shun you because of.” Marco gestured all of her. 

“Yes, I have become very close with the woman you steal underwear from in order to pleasure yourself, your highness~.” The woman giggled a bit but Greedy Heart appeared in Marco’s chest in a flash. 

“ _ We had per-!!! _ ” The organ screamed with panic before Marco muffled him with his hand. 

“Please ignore him… can we go back to talking about how much you like our little party?” Marco said embarrassed and the woman sighed before turning around to make the deadman’s float in the pool. 

“What is there to say? I love them, truly love them, your highness, I’ve never felt this kind of kinship besides Ruberiot and Foolduke.” Said the woman as she stared at the ceiling with nostalgia. 

“Speaking of those two, how are they?” Marco asked off-handedly making the woman stop her floating to look at him in the eye with stunned silence before her expression softened to a small smile. 

“Your highness, you have been under so much stress lately, how can you possibly have forgotten that they had to forgo the queen’s ball because of the birth of their third little one.” The woman said with excitement and it took the knight by surprise. 

“Holy… you are right, how could I forget?” Marco said with mild frustration before giving a little sigh. 

“Three in five years, those two have kept themselves busy and I’m sure that living with just two must have kept you busy.” Marco teased light heartedly but the woman answered with a wistful frown. 

“I… I didn’t forget something else, did I?” The knight asked, worried that he might have touched a raw nerve. 

“Worry not, your highness, this is a new development, I’ve moved out from their home… because sincerely, no matter how kind of them to open both their home and hearts to me it was just painfully obvious that I was the third piece that didn’t fit in their two pice puzzle.” The woman said with nostalgia apparent in her voice but she took a big breath and forced herself to smile regardless. 

“To the little ones I’m still their cute auntie Mime though.” Mime took both her index fingers and squished them against her cheeks that along with her forced smile and very contrasting Barry White voice painted a pretty sad picture. 

“And you will still be, no matter what happens.” Marco petted Mime’s head to comfort her, a gesture she greatly appreciated but. 

“I’m sorry, but I will never dare take that gamble, your highness.” Mime said just barely a whisper. 

***2 Hours later***

Marco had enjoyed the bath a bit too much, a moment for relaxation had become a rare commodity and after quite a while of just floating in the hot water he finally stood up and was pleasantly surprised to see that people had washed the clothes they left in the baskets. 

Now fully clothed he heard a literal stampede coming down the hall and turning his head to see he noticed all the girls all clad in only towels running towards him. 

“Marco, have you seen Mime? I only lost her from my sight for a bit and suddenly she wasn’t the-.” Chantelle desperately recounted the events and sincerely what grabbed Marco was the fact that she looked like a total different person right now. 

“ _ Business, girly and predator, wonder if there are any more modes this girl has. _ ” Greedy Heart mused inside the Latino’s head and the guy just pointed to the cabinet that he was hiding in a few hours ago, this made Chantelle frown. 

“This is not the ti-.” Chantelle said angrily but a loud bang made her turn and see Mime clad on her full garb and make up, Chantelle gasped in surprise and without thinking tackled the performer off the cabinet and hugged her tightly after they hit the floor. 

“Don’t scare me like that! God damn it, would it be really that bad to see what’s under that stupid make up!?” Chantelle berated her friend, Mime could only respond by corresponding the hug and a sad face… until she noticed Marco staring at Chentelle then Mime’s sad face became a frown as she protectively adjusted Chantelle’s towel, Marco shrugged and turned away. 

“Hey, where’s Jackie?” Marco said looking at the crowd with no police woman. 

“Right here, who’s hungry? I’m hungry, they promised food, I want food, that scare will surely make the food taste better.” Jackie appeared from nowhere fully clothed, speaking a mile a minute, and moved even faster towards the exit. 

“The only reason we found out Mime wasn’t there was because her stomach started to grumble and urged us to get out already.” Kelly rolled her eyes.

“And thank God Chantelle noticed Mime wasn’t there and stopped resisting, you guys don’t want to know what happens when you get between a hungry Jackie and her food.” Janna said, taking her clothes. 

***At the breakfast***

They ate at a big outdoor patio and considering that it was still morning the sounds and colors were vibrant and relaxing but the beautiful rustic atmosphere was being absolutely butchered by Jackie ripping handfuls off of a whole roasted bird with her bare hands to then shove the entire chunk into her mouth. Her face was completely stained by grease and spices, she also ate handfuls of vegetables from time to time and downed entire cups of what tasted like light wine in a single gulp. Her loud chewing was intertwined with small squeals of glee and sighs of satisfaction. 

“See? If we had stayed in the bath for another 10 minutes that would be one of us.” Janna said with a nice “told-you-so” kind of flare. 

“I’m never going to get used to watching her eat.” Brittney said with disgust but to disprove her own statement she did not have the urge to barf this time. 

“Seriously, how do you guys end up enjoying this ‘eating’ stuff so much?” Hekapoo said taking a few bites of food and while she had grown to enjoy it she was feeling inadequate about not being able to take as much joy out of it as Jackie. 

“Hekapoo, it’s rude to talk about other people like that.” Sabrina lightly scolded. 

“Why aren’t you telling her that then?!” Hekapoo pointed at Brittney outraged. 

“Because Wong is too far gone, Sab here somehow thinks you have hope left.” Janna sneered. 

“Sabrina is right though, we shouldn’t be talking about Jackie if she is right there.” Kelly said while she gave some embarrassed glances to Jackie. 

“Oh! Don’t worry about her, she is having a late breakfast after skipping dinner yesterday, she likes eating but right now she is in fucking nirvana, I assure you she won’t even remember we exist until-.” Janna said with apparent affection for the cop until a loud groan of satisfaction interrupted her, turning around everyone saw Jackie with her plate only populated by bones that have been picked completely clean and the woman herself had seasonings all over her satisfied face as she nursed her slightly swollen belly and leaned backwards on her chair. 

“Until she does that.” Janna finished her statement and Jackie’s attention was finally piqued. 

“Huh? Sorry guys were you saying something?” Jackie said confused , causing the whole group to either giggle a bit or look at her or Janna with amazement which confused the cop even more. 

“Ooookkkk~ if you guys are done being weird… Doc, is it a good time to tell us?” Jackie turned to Sabrina. 

“Tell what?” Sabrina was legitimately baffled. 

“You know, the story you teased back when we woke up.” Jackie explained and that made everyone’s eyes widen and look at Sabrina. 

“Ohhh yeah, I should clear the air about that one.” Sabrina said embarrassed and after a calming breath she continued. 

“There is not much to really say, because of all the chaos when the worlds fused quick medical attention became a necesity specially near that stupid mountain so my parents were chosen to be stationed there.” Sabrina bit her lip slightly and shivered. 

“But surprise surprise, that place was dangerous, the first three months it was just an onslaught of bandits, raiders and-” Sabrina shuddered and started tearing up. 

“... Spiders, I accompanied them because I was worried and wanted to help but what help could I be if even the protection provided by both Mewnie castle and the police was worth jackshit!!!” Sabrina screamed very upset before catching herself on what she just said and turned a worried look towards Jackie and Marco. 

“Don’t worry they were taken by surprise and spread paper thin, the police force was completely overwhelmed, why do you think I was even able to join? They were backed into a corner.” Jackie reassured. 

“Yeah, sincerely it was impossible to keep things in peace at that time.” Marco sighed in defeat and those comments succeeded in making Sabrina continue with her story. 

“Well… yeah I guess you are right… moving on, one time, I don’t even remember when a giant spider came into our place and what ended up saving us was… Mina.” Sabrina noticeably soured. 

“Mina, Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Noah saved us from the spiders and Mr. Jonathan had a deal nobody in their right mind would have declined, keep on doing our job just don’t report them and in exchange they kept us safe, after that my parents were tied to them, Mr. Noah became their body guard, he might have been there only to keep an eye on them but that doesn’t change the fact that there were at least a few dozen attacks that my parents survived only because Mr. Noah is… who he is.” Sabrina looked crestfallen and slowly took out the small wooden bottle.

“LET ME OUT!” A groggy growl rumbled from the bottle. 

“Shhhh~ Here, some food sir.” Sabrina took out the cork from the bottle and put a piece of food inside. 

“OH MY GOD!!!” The man screamed with excitement this time as Sabrina put the cork back on, after that happened the bottle started to shake with violence as very loud eating sounds reverberated from inside it. 

“Hehehe, he was hungry.” Sabrina giggled as she was barely able to keep hold of the violent shaking bottle. Everyone present opted to try and digest Sabrina’s story instead of reacting to her little cute try of changing the subject until Jackie piped up. 

“Hey girls, mind staying here another night?” Jackie said plainly, using her hands as pillows and staring at the sky. 

“First of all, NO! Second of all not even I exclude Barfo that brazenly.” Brittney snapped to attention the second Jackie opened her mouth. 

“Oh yeah, about that, I was thinking we should unwind a bit and my idea was a girls night, so what do you say?” Jackie presented herself completely submissive and open to ideas… that didn’t work on Brittney though. 

“How about you shove it up-” Brittney was rearing to retaliate with a frown and a face tainted crimson red until she felt a hand on her shoulder. After turning around she saw Chantelle with her face turned back to her cold business face. 

“Boss, how long has it been since my last day off?” Chantelle said coldly. 

“Eh?” Brittney was stopped in her tracks. 

“I have for the past 3 months worked weekends, at least 6 hours of overtime every week and not a single one of those overtime hours was paid. I wanna know, when is my next day off?” Chantelle said all in one breath. 

“Bitch, I had a way worse schedule and you kno-” Brittney’s anger came back in full but was interrupted by a single finger of Chantelle covering the heiress’s lips. 

“I don’t think that a lawyer and a letter of resignation will care much about what you are about to say.” Chantelle did not miss a beat, that made Brittney’s anger reach a peak before quickly deflating in defeat. 

“You can just say that you want to go to the fucking girls night out WITHOUT the threats… you fucking bitch.” Brittney mumbled that last part before Chantelle turned around and gave Jackie the thumbs up. 

“Awesome, girls night out!” Jackie stretched before patting Marco on the shoulder. 

“And you get to keep Nachos company for the night.” Jackie said enthusiastically to the knight. 

“Eh, sounds fun actually.” Marco shrugged before Nachos busted out of Kelly’s hair tackling the knight into the air. 

“See you later!” Marco screamed as he was being dragged away by the over excited dragoncicle. 

“If my plan goes well we’ll see you way way later!” Jackie waved goodbye.

***Well into the night***

The girls were going down a dark staircase, the place was deep inside a cave and the whole group just followed Jackie who was lighting the way with a torch. 

“Is it really so hard to tailor a pair of pants?” Chantelle who was now clad in a simple beige tunic whined. 

“Considering that from back here you look like you are smuggling an entire table under there, they probably thought ‘a pair of pants would deplete all our fabric’.” Brittney sneered. 

“You are still mad about the resignation threats, aren’t you?” Chantelle turned around to see her boss who was clad in a similar tunic but with a purple and gold color scheme. 

“Very.” Brittney crunched her brow.

“Officer Thomas where are we going? The shopping trip and the spa treatment were lovely but an abandoned cave in the countryside doesn’t mesh quite well with the rest of the day.” Chantelle just ignored her boss’s grumble. 

“YEAH!!! A weird abandoned mine doesn’t sound like a great place for a girl’s night out!” Sabrina loudly blurted out while shaking in her shoes.

“Girls, you know how I am with creepy stuff, do you really think I would take you to a haunted place?” Jackie said confidently and Sabrina’s shivering subsided a bit. 

“Then where are we going? Don’t try to keep all the suspense.” Kelly playfully raised her eyebrow. 

“Hehe, but we are right here.” Jackie opened a thick wooden door to enter a pitch black room that she quickly lit up by lighting rows of torches around the room, as the light slowly began revealing the nature of the room the group began forming their own opinions, the strongest of which was… 

“A WINE CELLAR!!!” Higgs kneeled and her wide, misty eyes darted from place to place scouting every single nook and cranny of the place, the rest of the group decided to withhold their reactions considering that they couldn’t compete with Higgs’s religious experience. 

“Exactly! While we were getting the royal treatment I talked up some of the people there and we got permission to raid this place.” Jackie said, lighting up the last torch.

“Higgs try not to get too crazy here, I think that wine is the only thing the people here drink.” Kelly warned the warrior who was already taking possession of a big barrel but everyone stopped when Jackie started to laugh.

“Don’t worry, wine IS the only thing they drink but the wine that they drink every day is at the base of this mountain and that particular cellar is a few hundred times larger than this one if the servant was telling the truth.” Jackie explained as she got closer and closer to a big wooden… barrel? Embedded to the wall. 

“THIS HERE!” Jackie said proudly, giving a nice slap to the wooden structure. 

“Is the good stuff.” Jackie flaunted that fact making Higgs noticed a small hole in the wooden structure. 

“Gimme, gimme, gimme.” Higgs greedily shoved her whole arm through the hole and produced a small keg, she gave it a shake and the sound it produced made the redhead drool and shiver. 

“SCORE!!!” Higgs then punched a hole to the wooden keg and began drowning on its content.

“Should we be taking this many freebies? The free room, food, and clothes along with the royal treatment with a spa, exclusive use of a public place… and us raiding their premium food… Did that guy kill a king or something?” Kelly couldn’t help but to feel embarrassed from all the stuff they were taking. 

“Yeah about that, remember how I talked it out with people around, apparently some of that came from Ms. Drinks like a fish’s win in the colosseum.” Jackie happily pointed at Higgs who put down the keg for a bit. 

“You’re welcome.” Higgs gave a big burp. 

“I’ll take it then.” With a shrug Kelly went and took a keg for herself. 

“Should we really…? I mean none of us are 21 yet.” Sabrina fidgeted with apprehension. 

“Sabrina, we’ve said this a few times already but it’s true, because of this journey back home we might not live to see 21, why hold back?” Chantelle put a reassuring hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. 

“YEAH!!! BRING IN THE SHY ONE!!! DRINKING IS MEANT TO BE DONE IN GROUPS!!!” Higgs cheered, then with a shy smile Sabrina put her hand inside the wooden wall and took her own keg, the rest of the group got their own keg soon after. 

“Hey, Jackie, can you give me Marcello back? I know that he should be ok with you… I’m just antsy without him.” Janna whispered to her friend but all the answer she received was a sly smile and with just that Janna’s heart sunk.

“What did you do Jackie?” Janna’s voice came as a panicked whisper. 

“Marcello, you can come out.” Jackie called to the big wooden structure and a metal cube appeared from the hole. 

The second Janna, Hekapoo and Kelly saw the contraption their faces contorted into one of panic and fury at the same time. 

“YOU TREACHEROUS BITCH!!!” Janna screamed. 

“WHY DO I KEEP FALLING FOR THIS?!” Hekapoo was trying to tear her hair out. 

“WHAT THE FUCK JACKIE?!” Kelly screamed with both disappointment and dread. 

“WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” Brittney screamed what the rest of the group was thinking after the other three were done. 

“DID WE ALL PUT OUR HANDS THROUGH THE HO-?” Hekapoo tried to warn the rest but suddenly a kind of veil shot out of the cube and engulfed all of them into a weird dark neon room. 

“...Yes, we all did.” Hekapoo said with exasperation. 

“Ok, this is weird.” Sabrina said. 

“You don’t know what’s going on?” Kelly said with frustration. 

“...No.” Sabrina shyly squeaked out. 

“This thing is a fucking lie detector, it’s used in courts to make sure no one lies in them.” Hekapoo screamed angrily. 

“Shit, really? Huh, well I guess that makes more sense for something as deadly as this than a toy for truth or dare.” Jackie was actually surprised by the information. 

“TRUTH OR DARE?!?! DEADLY?!?! YOU ARE PLANNING TO RISK OUR LIVES OVER FUCKING TRUTH OR DARE?!?!” Brittney was fuming now. 

“Yep, I figured a nice team building exercise would do us some good.” Jackie said with a radiant smile completely unfazed by the nasty looks everyone was giving her. 

“Ohh, come on, it will be fun, heck, leave my turn for last, everyone has a turn and then it ends, easy as that, what do you say?” Jackie said expectantly. 

“We better do, once the magic starts the only way to get out of it is by finishing its conditions, believe me, any attempt at anything else would be…” Janna began to explain but stopped to take a deep calming breath. 

“Disastrous.” Hekapoo finished with her arms crossed and a glare directed at Jackie action that everyone was following but a snort from Janna released the tension in the room in an instant. 

“Holy shit, considering all the fast ones you have pulled on me I still impress myself on just how much I let my guard down around you.” Janna smacked Jackie on her shoulder. 

“But damn this is the first time you’ve gone full on sneaky on me, Ok, you win, I’ll waste my turn.” Janna raised her hand and a blue circle appeared around her feet. 

“What is your question, momma?” The cube spoke. 

“What was Jack-... Momma?” Janna got all air knocked out of her by that simple word. 

“Awwww, I didn’t know something like that would happen.” Jackie cooed in absolute joy when she heard what the unicorn called her friend. 

“Yeah, Momma is the person that raises you and the one that cares for you.” The cube approached Janna who stood there frozen. 

“If that is true, then, you are momma.” The cube opened to show Marcello joyfully running on a hamster wheel and with that the circle around Janna’s feet turned golden. 

“Heh, she didn’t lie, she just wasted her turn.” Hekapoo sneered but to her surprise Janna stood there frozen. 

“Stupid witch. Third rate magician! JANNA!!!” Hekapoo screamed at the witch but nothing happened, meanwhile Jackie got her lips near Janna’s ear and with a grin said. 

“Momma.” Jackie whispered to the frozen witch who turned beet red and started fuming. 

“STOP THAT!!!” Janna screamed and began chazing Jackie around, the cop though just kept running and cackling. 

“Ok then, I don’t really have anything I want to know about any of you and if we don’t get this out of the way we are never moving on.” Higgs took a step forward and the same blue circle appeared under her. 

“Hey blondie, what’s the deal with all of this and how do you even have this thing?” Higgs said firmly as she pointed at the cube and the cop slowly stopped giggling. 

“I already told you guys, we are on an adventure together and while I see that Mime and Chantelle have gotten along like ducks and water, and you specially seem to be softening up, I still want us to know everyone, the better we get along the more chances we have of surviving, that’s what I truly believe and the cube was in the dump yard back in that weird pyramid mall.” Jackie said, still mildly giggling and that made the circle under Higgs turn golden. 

Everyone gave a resigned sigh and sat on a circle, all of them taking along their drink. 

“Hmmm, I guess, I wanna ask something not very risky… how about, hmmm, what is your happiest memory?” Sabrina said and a blue circle divided in nine segments appeared under her. 

“Easy, My time in France, I learned a lot, met a lot of people and it was just all in all a great learning experience.” Jackie said and suddenly her arm started turning into bark, her legs into tentacles and her face started to bloat in a horrible way. 

“Ok ok ok, Time out Marcello!” Jackie screamed and her transformation stopped but didn’t reverse. 

“What is it?” Marcello said enthusiastically. 

“What the fuck? I didn’t lie.” Jackie gestured to herself.

“The memory of your trip to France might have been your fondest one at the time but it could have been tainted by new experiences or maybe there is a new fondest memory, the question was of your current happiest memory.” The voice from the cube came as a robotic prerecorded message. 

“So what you are saying is that, that trip being the catalyst of my parents being stuck in another continent, the girlfriend I made there dumping me and leaving me alone in a crazy world, and everything I learned or saw there amounting to JACK SHIT!!! Left me a bit bitter about the whole ordeal?” Jackie finished her fuming rant in a sweet tone and everyone noticed that her transformation reversed bit by bit after every point made on said rant. 

“Yes.” The cube stated plainly in its robotic voice and Jackie shrugged. 

“Meh, makes sense. Ok so new fondest memory… My face time with my parents!” Jackie’s face turned into that of a pig. “Nah that makes me feel lonlier.” Jackie’s face went back to its original state. 

“Entering the force.” Jackie wondered out loud and her hair turned to snakes. “Nope, that was just for survival.” Jackie’s hair turned back just in time for the snakes not to attack her. 

“CAN YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND, THIS IS HORRIFIC ENOUGH AS IT IS!!!” Brittney screamed and with a quick look Jackie saw all her companions shivering and on the verge of tears. 

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry just let me…” Jackie took a deep breath and her eyes opened as wide as saucers. “Oh my God! This can’t be AHAHAHAHA! I’M SUCH A MESS!!!” Jackie bagan to laugh hysterically and everyone just stared at her, their anxiety not diminishing one bit. 

“Meeting Marco again.” Jackie plainly stated while she hid her face behind her hands and with that a portion of the circle under Sabrina turned golden. 

“I demand an explanation!” Chantelle screamed the second she heard Jackie’s answer and the golden color in the circle immediately turned back to blue. 

“CHANTELLE!!!” Brittney screamed. 

“What? This is ‘truth or dare’, she can’t get away with just that.” Chantelle said before taking a big glug of her drink. 

“Hehehe, it’s ok Wong, I brought this on myself anyways.” Jackie took her hands off her face and yep, she was crying. 

“It’s just that… I’ve been so lonely, my girlfriend left me, my parents are stranded in another continent, everyone and everything went to shit because of the world going upside down, and let’s not forget a certain bitch fucking off to join a cult.” Jackie threw a nasty look towards Janna who tried to hide herself from her gaze. 

“And… and… Well just finding a familiar face again that was relaxed and I could talk to, fuck he even helped me find Janna, I-I- I felt like life was going back to normal for a few seconds.” Jackie said, managing to not shed one more tear and with that the blue portion of the circle turned golden again. 

“Well I mean your life really is in the gutter if meeting again with an ex is the best that could happen to you.” Chantelle mused with playfulness and it earned her a snort from Jackie.

“Fuck off!!!” Jackie’s harsh words were offset by her hearty laugh that allowed a few tears to escape. 

“So? Are we all good here? I promise I will be the first victim at all times, let’s just go with the flow and have fun.” Jackie managed to say and everyone agreed with either a small nod or an eye roll. 

“Ok then, my turn.” Janna said with little enthusiasm.

“Waking up after the magic being destroyed and finding Marcello hiding in my beanie, taking care of him and him coming along with a localised ‘can-use-magic’ field was the greatest for me.” Janna said and the circle became a bit more golden. 

“Taking over my own branch of daddy’s company, it finally felt like I was moving up.” Brittney said while avoiding everyone’s eyes. 

“Well, if the whole tainted thing stands… then I guess that all my memories with my ex are out of the question.” Kelly thoughtfully rubbed her chin. 

“When I became a librarian, I proved myself as the cream of the crop in a society that is all about fighting and considering that I have seen lots of other societies I sincerely felt strong.” Kelly finished and while the circle did turn golden Kelly’s hair turned into an unbearably heavy stone anyway. 

“WHAT THE HELL?” Kelly screamed under the weight.

“There is an important piece of information missing.” The cube droned. 

“AHHHH!!! It felt like I finally moved on from the dating scene now that I had a stable and respected job. I thought that being guy free was the best decision in my life.” Kelly’s strain diminished bit by bit as her hair reduced its weight with every word she said. 

“Was?” Jackie raised her eyebrow to the phrasing of that statement. 

“I’m still on the fence, maybe I’m just confused still but by the looks of it, it’s still my best decision ever despite that.” Kelly shrugged without much enthusiasm before turning around to avoid any more questioning. 

“I’m next.” Chantelle raised her hand. 

“The moment I got used my job, stable, good hours most of the time, good pay and I get to fuck everyone I want there.” Chantelle said in one breath and the circle once again turned a little more golden. 

“Wow, no hesitation there, huh?” Jackie said what the faces of the rest of the group were communicating. 

“Hey, I already saw what happens when someone is not 100% truthful here so I’m not about to act all shy only to get my eyes turned into snails or something.” Chantelle wiggled her fingers and shrugged. 

“So you are just gonna say you whore it up with any co-worker?” Janna said, rolling her eyes. 

“Not any... Wait… ok, my standards are pretty flexible now that I think about it.” Chantelle shrugged and everyone else looked at her with surprise with her brazenness. 

“You haven’t seen half of it.” Brittney said exhausted.

“What about you Mime?” Chantelle asked the effectively mute woman. 

Mime started to be deep in thought before she blushed and bagan to bashfully fidget around, the whole group saw her demeanor with curiosity as she stood up and paced back and forth. 

After a few seconds of this Mime stopped and with an inquisitive look at the group she ran up and hugged Chantelle to then stand up and do the same to the rest of the group, with that the circle lit up again. 

“Hehehe, you big soft ball.” Chantelle said with a blush. 

“I feel flattered.” Kelly said with a big smile on her face. 

“Now that was just adorable.” Hekapoo said with a small giggle. 

“And now it’s my turn.” Higgs said and with her arms crossed she stated plainly. 

“Drinking parties after a quest they were fun and a celebration of victory, I loved them.” Higgs said plainly and everyone looked at her with eyes filled with worry. 

“Yeah I can feel it, don't worry.” Higgs said with her ears oozing a weird dark green goo. 

“They also usually devolved into orgies.” And with that statement from Higgs the goo turned to smoke in a blink of an eye.

“See!!! I’m not the only one!!! Fucking feels fucking good!!! AAAHAHAHAHAA!!!” Chantelle rolled on the floor for a bit. 

“Ohhh lord, she is completely shit faced, I dread her turn now.” Brittney said looking at her friend with a face that screamed ‘not again’. 

“Why? It’s probably going to be something like ‘how did you lose your virginity?” Kelly stated without much thought but that made Chantelle stand up straight from her lying down position. 

“Please don’t, please, no one ask that, this is gonna be a looooong journey and I want to let that particular gossip to marinate as muuuuch as possible.” Chantelle said dead serious. 

“We will… don’t worry we will.” Jackie tried to calm down the woman who smiled widely after that statement and went back to happily drink from her keg. 

“Ok, so it’s my turn.” Sabrina sheepishly interjected. 

“Getting into med school, I finally managed to join my parents and with all the chaos prior it was a nice return to normalcy.” Sabrina said with a smile but then she barfed up a small rodent and her legs began turning into talons. 

“Seeing my parents safe every day despite relying on Mina and that cult.” Sabrina scrambled for something to say but now her head began sprouting horns and she began screaming when spikes started busting out of her back. 

The whole group was stunned silent but the only one that managed to get her bearings and try to help the situation. 

“You can say it doc! believe me no one minds what it is, just say the truth, if someone has a problem with it they will have to deal with me!” Jackie hastily reassured the girl that was spasming on the floor but that was enough, Sabrina gritted her teeth and screamed. 

“Graduating highschool and never having to be under Brittney’s boot again!” Sabrina opened her eyes and found herself back to normal, she took a deep breath and let some tears flow after that little ordeal. 

“Are you ok doc?” Jackie tried to comfort the girl. 

“I… I’ll be.” Sabrina slowly regained her composure and eyeballed Brittney with fear. 

“Wait, this bitch is worse than raiders and giant spiders to you?” Higgs said pointing at Brittney. 

“She was an amazingly huge bitch back then.” Chantelle happily pointed out. 

“... Yeah, I probably still am.” Brittney didn’t defend herself or tried to belittle any part of the conversation and opted to not even look at Sabrina.

“Hey, that’s a tough act to follow but I’m the last one so…” Hekapoo tried to lighten the mood. 

“That one time I raised a baby.” Hekapoo said with a quiet voice making the circle to finally complete. 

“WHAT!?” The whole group screamed making a single segment of the circle turn blue. 

“God damn it, ok, I’ll explain, you guys know one Star or Moon Butterfly?” Hekapoo said more irritated than anything and everyone nodded wordlessly. 

“Due to some… unsavory circumstances I was her great great grandmother’s care taker, those were some… interesting years, I was not as a good caretaker as I could be if my ignorance towards anything mortal related didn’t gave that away and the girl ended up a party crazed alcoholic to put the cherry on top… but those years when I saw her grow up, experience everything for the first time and struggle at challenges they felt… they felt, how do I put this? Warm?” Hekapoo finished her story and to everyone's surprise she looked sincerely confused and finally that circle was complete. 

“Three down six to go, muscles or lean!?” Hekapoo recovered her bearings easily and screamed the next question making the circle appear under her. 

“LEAN!” Jackie enthusiastically screamed with her hand in the air and the circle lit up. 

“Wait, what’s going on?” Kelly asked confused. 

“Muscle bound or lean cut which one do you prefer?” Jackie answered easily.

“Oh, hmmm, lean?” Kelly answered without much confidence but the circle lit up anyways. 

“Both at the same time, with more than one of each preferably!” Chantelle drunkenly screamed. 

“You have issues.” Hekapoo said and everyone agreed. 

“Not the daddy kind at least.” Chanelle turned a drunken smug smile towards Hekapoo and then she burped. 

“Muscle bound the more beef the better!” Higgs said with no hesitation as she flexed. 

“I like them lean… like not-at-all-threatening lean.” Sabrina said with her cheeks rosy. 

Mime stood up and gracefully walked around before using her hands to frame her thin waist.

“Whichever Marco is at the time.” Janna answered matter of factly the circle now with only two more segments left to lit up. 

“You have issues.” All the team repeated in a chorus. 

“And this one is the tamest one I have.” Janna chuckled. 

“Muscles, I have history with those.” Hekapoo said with a blush and everyone stared at Brittney. 

“I don’t wanna.” Brittney whined but she saw her arms turning into a pair of yellowy green slugs. 

“Just tell them boss.” Chantelle said half sleep. 

“Ahhh! Puny! Small! Defenceless! Is that enough!?” Brittney screamed and the circle turned completely golden. 

“That’s surprising considering your boyfriend was the biggest muscle head in highschool.” Janna chuckled again. 

“Guess who turned me off muscles?” Brittney grumbled. 

“I thought it was the whole ‘him cheating on you even though you are engaged’ what turned you off muscles.” Chantelle blurted out. 

“He cheated on me with you!!!” Britney snapped at her halfway unconscious assistant, Chantelle stood up from lying down on the floor and drunkenly smiled. 

“And you didn’t break off the engagement or fire me, that’s why I love you.” Chantelle drunkenly drawled. 

“Yeah, yeah, I need you more than I would ever need him.” Brittney calmly said and noticed everyone staring at them confused making Brittney sigh. 

“She IS my most trusted worker and because of that little affair I have carte blanche to cheat on him however much I want… which is a lot because-” Brittney began knowing full well that Chantelle would finish it for her. 

“WORST SEX EVER!!!” Chantelle pumped her fist in the air. 

“Wanna wring some more juice off of this topic or do I still have some privacy?” Brittney asked without much enthusiasm and everyone refrained from asking anything else, besides they felt like everything that needed to be said was said. 

“All right, seeing that we are all focused on Brittney, she did say something that made me curious.” Kelly interceded and managed to grab everyone’s attention. 

“She asked Jackie what fear of hers would be a hindrance, if we have to deal with any of them and any of you freeze up we will be in trouble, we should not be caught by surprise.” Kelly said seriously. 

“Damn… did you just dead ass ask us what our biggest fear is?” Jackie asked uncomfortably. 

“Yes but don’t worry I’m just interested if it’s something that could hinder us in our trip, I don’t think the fear of being inadequate for your family or loved ones will be a big threat on our journey so if it is something like that just say so and there is no need to keep going.” Kelly said way more relaxed this time. 

“Well… You guys don’t need another talk about me and ghosts right?” Jackie was avoiding everyone’s gaze and beet red. 

“Nope, even I got tired of that already.” Brittney mocked. 

“Well that’s good to know.” Jackie sarcastically rolled her eyes and the circle lit up. 

“I’m fine then, nothing that can walk or harm me is my worst fear.” Janna said nonechalantely. 

“Marco rejecting you?” Everyone said at the same time. 

“Yeah, haha, I’m obvious and all that shit.” Janna said and the circle lit up again.

“No enemy or obstacle will ever scare me.” Higgs scoffed at the mere idea. 

“Ditto.” Hekapoo giggled out her answer.

“My biggest fear is not going back, I will kick to the curb anything that threatens me with that.” Brittney threatened no one in particular. 

“We’re all good here.” Chantelle mumbled. 

“My people live and die by the battle, I’m not someone to worry about.” Kelly proudly stated. 

Mime followed with her own answer that was a thumbs up, with that the circle became almost completely golden. 

“Ehhmmm…. Well… Giant spiders, giant insects… Giant anything really, hemm, bad people, angry people, people trying to-” Sabrina listed off. 

“Sabrina… we will protect you.” Kelly said with an awkward smile. 

“...You’ve heard all you had to hear, right?” Sabrina shyly musited and everyone nodded with different levels of embarrassment and the circle turned golden. 

“Ok, last spurt…” Brittney said and opened her mouth to say the next question only to close it immediately and blush. 

“What? Is Wong getting shy?” Jackie mocked to which Janna and Chantelle joined with some snickers. 

“How have your lives changed because of the merger?” Brittney said under her breath still red as a tomato.

“Ohhh, haven’t we heard the answer for that already.” Jackie said, all malice in her voice completely gone but Brittney still stared at her awkwardly, her brow frowning and relaxing in rapid succession with the heiress’ doubt obvious before she completely deflated. 

“I’m… feeling guilty, ok? The only impact in my life could have been done by just a stupid police investigation but it just so happened that it actually was by the fucking armageddon and now I’m finally noticing that maybe you guys had it way worse than me.” Brittney blurted out with her voice a bit shaky and a segment from the circle lit up. 

“Ok, from the top then-” Jackie said with a nice smile and full empathy. 

***With Marco***

A giant volcano erupted and the smoke and lava formed into a humanoid silhouette that began to maniacally laugh at a latino at top of a dragon that looked like a puny fly in comparison. 

“You dare to try and stop MACKAPELLUS the destroyer of this world!!!” the conglomeration of lava and ash vociferate.

“Kid, how did we end up here from herding griffons?” Greedy Heart asked completely lost about what happened. 

Nachos dodged a slap coming at them at sonic speed from the imponent monster. 

“I don’t know, I just wanted to help an old lady with the laundry!!!” Marco screamed. 

***Back with the girls***

Everyone was coughing or in the case of Higgs and Chantelle barfing on the floor. 

“Mime, I know this is truth or dare but I thought all of us would just choose truth!” Jackie choked out between coughs. 

Mime shrugged before putting her hand in front of the floating cube making the contraption materialise an (Kinda phallic) ice pop in her hand and then Mime proceeded to swallow the thing whole. 

“I could have done it!!!” Chantelle was outraged. 

“If I was not this shit faced I would have shown you what ‘No gag reflex’ really means!!!” Chantelle continued to scream but her intestines decided to throw its insides cutting the angered woman off. 

“I’m just thankful that the stupid cube doesn’t treat failing a dare the same as lying.” Higgs said as she cleaned her mouth with her arms. 

“It’s a lie detector not a judge.” Hekapoo said, still coughing. 

“Just one more turn before Jackie’s.” Sabrina said gently caressing her throat. 

“Oh no! Chantelle please tell me you’ve sobered up a bit!” The look of sincere fear in Brittney’s face when she said that wasn’t something anyone on the team had seen before and her fear only got deeper when she saw Chantelle inspecting the cube. 

“Spelling bee, conga line, beer pong!” Chantelle said moving a knob on the cube. 

“To use the beer pong please buy the ping pong table and the disposable glasses, we recommend the speed magic brand.” The cube robotically droned.

“That thing has settings?” Jackie said voicing the rest of the group’s confusion.

“Ha! Check it out boss.” Chantelle showed the cube proudly displaying a ‘speed magic’ logo and for some reason that killed all the dread in Brittney’s face as she snorted. 

“Oh my God! Predatory business practices are as old as life itself, AHAHAHAHA!!!” Brittney loudly laughed alongside her personal assistant. 

“Karaoke.” Chantelle said, turning the knob again and now making the whole group look on with dread. 

“Ok, we sing whatever you ask about, big deal, do your worst.” Brittney having gone over her fear of Chantelle, directly challenged the short big hipped woman. 

“All right, Marco Diaz… what is your honest opinion about the guy?” Chanelle’s smug… everything shined like the sun. 

Janna the moment she heard the question turned tail and ran off until she collided face first with the veil that was jailing them. 

“NO! Please no!!! Anything but that!!!” Janna cried out as she clawed at the veil with her arms slowly growing hairy and her fingers becoming thin and long. 

“If you tear off the bandage quickly it will start to heal quicker.” Jackie said as the rest of the group began to bloat horrifically. 

“I WILL MURDER YOU IF YOU KILL US OVER THIS!!!” Hekapoo screamed before losing the ability to speak because a tree started spouting in her throat and began growing out of her mouth. 

“OK!!!” Janna screamed and everyone turned back to normal. 

“Ok… I’ll do it.” Janna deflated and with her head low began walking towards the cube as if walking towards the gallows. 

“What are you worried about? We already know it’s going to be some fucked up song about ‘you are my toy’ or some shit like that.” Brittney was feeling pretty sour over what Janna just made her go through but her surprise over the somber and slow little tune that started to play the second a mic appeared in Janna’s hand stopped her. 

With a deep breath and misty eyes Janna began: 

_ It’s another of those days when I remember how  _

_ That even though we cross paths you decided to follow a pair of sparkly blue eyes _

_ Ever Since I first saw your cute face  _

_ I’ve been trying to find a way for it to turn to me _

_ And yet here I am this water is just the rain I swear it  _

_ I am not here just fantasizing about you with a pretty pink bouquet _

_ And here I am everyday just waiting thinking if the one turning the corner is you looking for me  _

All through Janna’s performance she didn’t move an inch, stiff like a statue she sang with her hands close to her chest, her knees almost touching and her gaze firmly on the floor until she finished and took a few seconds to finally look up to see all the confused faces in front of her with the exception of Jackie. All those eyes on her succeeded in making her own water and without a word she went into a corner and sat on a fetal position with her back turned on the group. 

“Would you believe me if I told you that she keeps an honest to goodness journal? It’s super cute.” Jackie said and in a second Janna’s beanie collisioned square on the back of the blonde’s head making the cop giggle.

“Am I at least forgiven about the whole cult fiasco!?” Janna desperately screamed. 

“You are now.” Jackie smugly said before throwing the beanie back. 

“Well I was supposed to be the first, but we had someone who had to beat shame quickly.” Jackie said and Janna responded with a groan. 

“So here I go.” A mic appeared on Jackie’s hand and a slow kind of caribbean tune began to sound: 

_ Hello so long since I’ve seen you  _

_ Yet here we are again _

_ Here to do this little dance one more time _

_ We are twirling around just like the first time but in reverse _

_ Going round and round with you thinking that this is just a dumb game  _

Suddenly the music swelled intensely and Jackie took a deep breath in preparation. 

_ OF COURSE I’M JEALOUS OF HER!!! _

_ What makes you blind to something so simple?  _

_ Of course I’m jealous of her _

_ Is it just fun to laugh at the loser?  _

_ Of course I’m jealous of her _

_ OF HER, HEEEEEERRRRRRR~!!!!  _

Jackie’s face was red and her eyes were freely leaking tears but other than that she looked like her same chill and composed self as she approached the group with the mic in hand. 

“Who has the next turn?” Jackie tried to ask normally but her voice cracked ever so slightly.

“Well… Shit, this actually looks like fun.” Hekapoo nonchalantly stood up and took the mic, her and Jackie sharing a little knowing nod. 

The fiery redhead began standing on her toes and going back to start bobbin as she gave her back to her crowd, then the music with some strong percussion and playful bass began. 

_ And there came another challenger oh what a drag _

_ Just someone to leave there crying and forget next day _

_ But, Oh, what is this? Looks like this little guy might have a spine _

_ Well congratulations little guy! It took some time but look at you now, big guy you passed all the trials _

She put her hand opposite to the mic on her hip and began dancing using only her shoulder. 

_ But all that work and you turn your back with the first blonde you see _

_ If you think you made the right choice _

Hekapoo began a slow confident and flaunty trot before she stood still and with a look that resembled what disappointed (and pissed) mother would have she kept singing. 

_ Well baby let me tell you, you chose wrong! _

With a stern look and her walk still like the one she had when she was singing she offered the mic. 

“Well that felt good, who wants to try next?” Hekapoo visibly relaxed and the music stopped. 

“Might as well.” Kelly sighed and took the mic. 

She began singing stiff like Janna but the weak body language was not there, her eyes were on front and they were confrontational:    
  


_ Why are you back?  _

_ I was finally happy again _

_ I was finally moving on as this thing you turn me toooo~  _

Kelly began shivering but the music still swelled regardless. 

_ You beat me, you caught me and you played me _

_ I was hopeless just like a mouse facing a cat _

_ Yes I won the rematch  _

_ But whatever I became I don’t recognise _

Kelly’s knees began to buckle. 

_ And here you are in front of me  _

_ Talking sweet nothings and things that I know I shouldn’t believe _

_ I can’t understand me I know I’m stupid but my head tells me to kneel and beeeeeggg~ _

_ I thought that I was finally strong  _

_ But nowwwwwww~ I know I’m weak. _

Kelly kneeled on the floor sobbing. 

“I’m weak, I’m stupid and weak.” Kelly loudly wailed kneeling on the floor until Chantelle forcefully made her look up to her and just as forcefully kissed the woolette, all the weakness and doubt on the warrior melted in a second and with a frown slapped the short woman with such force that the slap echoed around them for a good three seconds. 

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Kelly demanded but Chantelle just smiled a bit while holding her cheek. 

“See? If you don’t want something you just turn it away, no guy should be able to make you feel like that… unless you want to.” Chantelle shrugged. 

“Wha…?” Kelly began but before she could question further Chantelle took the mic off her hand. 

“Cat and a mouse? I like the metaphor, here, look at the master for a bit.” Chantelle said as she confidently walked towards the cube. 

When Chantelle turned around her outfit turned into frilly black underwear that had a cat shaped window in the valley between the breasts, a tail attached to the bottoms and some pink embroidery, to complete the get up she had a hair band with a pair of cat ears as well as a pair of gloves and socks that looked like cat paws. 

She made the stage hers instantly with that little popy song that the cube started playing.

_ I kinda remember you walking down the halls _

_ Just a little mousy boy that was not worth my time _

_ But then I lost you from my sight for a while  _

_ And I find that pathetic little you found himself a swan.  _

Chantelle’s head bobbed slightly with the beat and everyone caught how eyes shined a mischievous glint before she got on all fours. 

_ That makes me curious.  _

Chantelle began to playfully strut on all fours. 

_ Are you really as skilled as your swan suggests?  _

_ Are you now no longer a mouse but a butterfly?  _

_ You know, that makes me… _

_ You know that makes me… a very curious cat.  _

Chantelle began to seductively lick her lips and got herself into a pounce position while wiggling her rear, after one or two seconds of that the music stopped. 

“Are you serious Jackie?!” Brittney screamed her annoyance. 

“What do you mea-? OH MY GOD!” Jackie turned tomato red when she noticed her nipples were poking through her clothes. 

“Am I really gonna have to deal with random erections even when Barfo is not here?!” Brittney berated. 

“I’m bi, single and just fucking look!” Jackie pointed at Chantelle who had asked the cube for a full body mirror and was now checking herself out thoroughly by sticking out her bum and wiggling it, shaking her hips in a way that would make Shakira proud, slowly run her hands through her hips all the way to her breasts and played with the hem of the bra and panties trying to find just the right point where there was maximum skin showing but just not the sensitive area. 

“Tell you what, Jackie, if you buy me a get up like this back home you get the full girlfriend experience for an entire month.” Chantelle said with her voice back to her business mode but somehow not icy cold this time… that change in attitude did nothing to stop her dancing around to check herself. 

“I’m not dumb enough to play ball with the girl who just proudly presented herself as a predator, besides you are straight I’m sure.” Jacke held her ground. 

“Oh a 100% straight believe me, I have experimented enough, but if you buy me nice things, it would be down right mean not to give you a reward.” Chantelle began walking seductively towards Jackie with her hands behind her head. 

“HA! You think I haven’t played with ‘party lesbians’ before? I know the deal and it’s a raw one.” Jackie said but Chantelle gave out a cute giggle and then Jackie’s thighs were clasped together like a vice. 

“You are right on that one. Quick bikini area hairy or shaven?” Chantelle began sultry and approaching Jackie slowly, when the blonde was pretty much accepting the advances as the short woman leaned into the cop’s chest she asked quickly to not give the cop a second to think. 

“Hairy is cutest.” Jackie answered without thinking. 

“Thanks!” Chantelle happily chimed and quickly separated from the blonde making the confused cop to drop on her ass to the floor, quickly Brittney squatted beside the blonde. 

“That’s a speedrun of most of her relationships, you say no, she presses on, you say yes, she then says thanks I’m done and you end up confused and horny.” Brittney flicked Jackie’s hard nipple. 

“Also, hairy?” Brittney questioned and finally Jackie seemed to respond to the outside world. 

“Heheh, I cut my teeth back in France, I kinda got used to it.” Jackie shyly said and with all the girl’s attention on that particular matter no one noticed Chantelle going directly to Kelly. 

“You see? You don’t resist temptation, you temt right back.” Chantelle said with a wicked grin splattered on her face and while this was supposed to be encouragement for the woollette the girl inquisition turned sheet white. 

“I need an adult.” Kelly managed to squeak before Brittney got in front of the cube. 

“Ok, my turn.” Brittney outstretched her arm but the Mic appeared on Higgs’ hand.

“What the fuck, horse?” Brittney questioned the cube. 

“Your answers are the same, both of you will answer to save time.” The cube droned. 

Both women looked at each other with confusion at first but then it was understanding, Higgs offered the mic and both held the tool in between them. With their eyes closed and a deep breath their faces turned into a deep frown as a heavy guitar riff began from the cube.

( _ Italics: Brittney,  _ **Bold:Higgs,** **_Both=both.)_ **

_ An insect like you managed to climb?  _

**You think an insect like you can steal all I have?**

_ I was born great you are as low as dirt  _

**I broke my back you worked on your back**

**_Yet here you are above all I did!!!_ **

**_All I had meant nothing when you appeareeed!!!_ **

**_YOU’RE NOT BETTER THAN ME!!!_ **

**_YOU’RE NOT BETTER THAN ME!!!_ **

**_YOU’RE NOT BETTER THAN MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!_ **

Both of them were banging their heads as they screamed the chorus until they ran out of breath. 

“Was that singing or venting?” Hekapoo snarked. 

“Excuse me I didn’t get it, is that guy not better than you or something?” Jackie ribbed and both Brittney and Higgs couldn’t help but giggle between pants. 

“Yeah something like that, whoever wants it, take it.” Higgs raised the microphone towards the only two people that hadn’t taken a turn.

“I’ll do it.” Sabrina said with a shaky voice. 

“Ohhh lord.” Sabrina felt woozy staring down the little crowd.

“Stage fright.” Sabrina giggled before taking a deep breath and the cube began to give a light violin and piano tune. 

_ I am little, afraid and not worth much _

_ But you said “that’s not true” _

_ You gave me your hand and told me to try  _

_ And hereee I ammmmmmmmmmm~  _

_ Looking at your baaaaaaackkkkk~  _

_ You looked like me all the time _

_ You looked like the one that always lost  _

_ Yet you beat out every one _

_ I want to tryyyyyyyyy _

_ I want to be like thaaaaaaattttttt~  _

“See? Some take being beaten as encouragement.” Chantelle snickered to her boss who rolled her eyes. 

“I already beat the guy I don’t know what you are talking about.” Higgs scoffed making everyone laugh noticeably, even Higgs herself. 

“Why do I know that is gonna bite us in the ass one of these days.” Kelly referred to Higgs in general while still chuckling a bit.

“Your voice is angelic, doc!” Jackie cheered. 

“You did great sab.” Janna said still on the corner on a fetal position but she did give her apprentice a good old thumbs up. 

“So we have only one left.” Hekapoo turned a sympathetic eye towards Mime. 

“Shit… I should have remembered that when I put the karaoke setting on.” Chantelle sobered up and saw what she just did. 

Mime pondered her options for a bit before she went towards the cube and whispered something. 

“I do possess one of those.” The cube boomed and Mime gave two thumbs up, a nice lute began to play a jolly tune and Mime danced along. 

_ Me a jester on the court _

_ You a knight and right hand of a queen _

_ I see you dance I know your place and mine _

A cheery flute began playing and Mime continued her dancing and mimed playing the flute. 

_ But then what happened my oh my the knight knows how to laugh _

_ You along with us played along with the joke _

_ We fought enemies and made some friends you were part of the jesters of the court _

_ You reached your hand across the aisle and took mine _

_ You took me to the dance _

By that last verse Mime stopped her playful, jumpy even child-like dance and started to waltz. 

_ I’m scared, I’m confused, I think I might be losing my sights _

_ Maybe I can go somewhere that is not my place _

And with that the circle under Chantelle turned pure gold. 

“Finally, one more and we are done.” Brittney cheered. 

“Be nice to us.” Hekapoo elbowed Jackie lightly. 

“No worries, it’s a short one actually.” Jackie stretched and laughed, the blonde took a few steps until she gave all the group her back and then turned around with her face now dead serious. 

“Why did you join Mina’s cult?” Jackie flat out stated. 

“WHAT?!” Janna scrambled to her feet outraged. 

“You said I was forgiven!!!” Janna screamed to her friend’s face. 

“But ok, you want a confession? I’ll give you a confession!!! You probably know it already!” Janna turned to the rest of the group. 

“MARCO!!! I wanted Marco, a love potion, a brain washing spell, a fate altering ritual, whatever I could get, I joined because I was promised all the resources on magic those crazies could get and I thought I would get something.” Janna screamed and moved as if she was a cornered animal. 

“Did you?” Hekapoo sneered. 

“YES!!!” Janna made herself as tall as she could but then hunched over. 

“But then he appeared and acted like finding me was the best thing that could happen to him… I couldn’t do it when he was right in front of me!” Janna wailed and coward but then a tap on her shoulder called her attention. 

“Janna… as you said, I already knew that.” Jackie said sheepishly, Janna’s surprise was doubled when she looked at her friend’s feet and saw the circle only half lit up. 

“Though I think the cube does take into consideration everyone who is viable for the question… well a confession WAS nice.” Jackie shrugged. 

“What? Then wha-?” Janna’s realization was quickly followed by everyone else’s and everyone turned to Sabrina. 

“Bu-but I already told you, we were promised protection if-” Sabrina’s legs began turning to stone. 

“But I’m telling the truth!” Sabrina panicked after she felt the granite climbing up her body reaching her waist. 

“You need to say the whole truth, doc, you know that.” Jackie said, getting closer. 

“Jackie stop this, what does Sab even have to say?” Janna berated. 

“Bitch! What the heck are you doing bullying the shy one here!!!” Brittney screamed but them and the rest of the group reproaches were promptly ignored by Jackie. 

“Tick tock, doc, if that rock reaches your mouth we all die soon after too.” Jackie giggled out now that Sabrina couldn’t use her arms and the stone was reaching her neck, Sabrina’s eyes were now fountains of tears but she managed to contain her babbling enough to say something coherent. 

“I WANTED TO BEAT MONSTERS!!!” Sabrina finally said and the granite dissolved from her body leaving her limp and crashing into the ground but Jackie caught her in an embrace before she could hit the floor. 

“I hate it!!! I fucking hate it!!! I’m finally rid of one bully and then suddenly I have to contend with hundreds more!!!” Sabrina tightly held on to Jackie. 

“What did I even do to deserve this?!?!?! I just wanted to be the strong one for once!!! To be the one to beat the bullies back!!! And all I got was being the errand girl to a crazed bitch too!!! WHY!?!?! I don’t want to!!! I just want a normal life with my parents and my career! And no one is hurting me anymore.” Sabrina screeched all her sorrows on to Jackie’s ear who just stood there and continued to embrace the crying doctor. 

Everyone stood there not knowing what to do until Sabrina calmed down and as soon as that happened the circle turned full gold. 

“Doc, you do know Kelly’s a monster right?” Jackie sweetly asked the girl in her arms. 

“I hate bullies not monsters.” Sabrina sobbed out. 

“Are you willing to cooperate with Wong? I won’t blame you if you don’t.” Jackie continued to caress the other woman’s back and Sabrina turned her red puffy eyes to the woman that tormented her half a decade back. 

Brittney first tried to avoid her gaze but decided against it, they both stared at each other for a bit, Sabrina with uncertain eyes and Brittney was slowly chipped down by the stare, every moment her old victim’s eyes were on her Brittney felt more and more heavy, she felt like she wanted to cry, to trow herself to the floor, fuck she was on full on fight or flight mode by now. 

In the end with a deep breath the heiress just raised her arms in defeat and lowered her head, she did not know what else to do

“I might think about giving it a try.” Sabrina tasted every word still unsure about them and Brittney held her pose. 

“Well I think that’s the best we can have by now.” Jackie patted the doctor’s back and the veil finally lifted. 

“Finally.” Janna said taking out Marcello from the cube and putting him on her beanie. 

“Should I dispose of this?” Kelly said inspecting the inert cube. 

“Better not, it might come in handy some other time… against someone who isn’t us.” Hekapoo said with spite. 

“Who wants to get drunk again!” Higgs said with enthusiasm. 

“Really? After all that happened?” Brittney said in a much lower voice than usual. 

“Heck because of what happened I NEED to get drunk again.” Chantelle said, giving a sigh of relief and a keg to her boss. 

Brittney contemplated giving the keg to Sabrina for a bit before opting against it.

“Wanna join in the party again, doc? Tomorrow we leave as soon as we wake up.” Jackie said sweetly. 

“I agree with Chantelle, I need to get drunk now.” Sabrina managed a giggle. 

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” Jackie again patted the witch on the back. 

***The next morning***

All the girls woke up with a crushing hangover but managed to stand up anyways, they were told by a servant (The bear crocodile) that they were found passed out on the cellar and transported back to the room they were given yesterday.

They stumbled outside after a chase down for the hangover and some breakfast and they found Marco with a laurel crown, holding a bouquet of flowers and a small squad of servants all of them bowing to him. 

“Had fun yesterday?” Marco enthusiastically asked. 

“Heck yeah!” Jackie didn’t miss a beat and the rest goggily agreed. 

“And you, big guy?” Jackie hit Marco with her hip. 

“You know, it happened.” Marco shrugged. 

“Did you have breakfast?” Hekapoo asked. 

“Yeah we have to go now, I think we will stay here if we don’t.” Janna nursed her aching head. 

“Had a bite or two, Nachos, we are going!” Marco said and Nachos appeared peppered with golden regalia and feather decorations. 

“Thanks guys, we have to go now.” Marco said to the servants. 

“But great hero!!!” The servants wined. 

“We need to go, you’ll get a new hero when it’s needed, I’m sure of it.” Marco comforted the servants. 

“And you.” Marco pointed at the bear crocodile. 

“You are just the greatest.” Marco bowed to the group’s newest friend much like the servants did to him. 

“We owe you a lot.” Sabrina said as she put her hand on the mutant’s shoulder. 

“I’m sure you’ll do a good job.” Jackie said as the rest sang their praises too. 

“And now, adieu.” Janna said with artistic flair to open the portal and finally cross it. 

“Good bye.” The whole group said as they crossed the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOO weee!!! Finally done with this chapter. 
> 
> That truth or dare scene has been one I've been chomping at the bit to put there since I startid this whole darn thing. 
> 
> This is the longest chapter I've made to date and while it was satisfying to finish it was also very tiresome, heck I relesed it the second I finished it wich was like at 3am and half sleep so it's probably got some problems here and there... I will get to those eventually but now I need a bit of rest. 
> 
> On another note I'm writing an avatar: the last airbender fan fic... in spanish, thanks to that now I have some friends willing to beta and workshop the fic with me unlike this one so if you are interested in that you might want to be on the look out for that I'm pretty much done with the first chapter even but I'm sorry to inform that yes that fic might impact the production of this one. 
> 
> With not much else to add, I will just thank you for your attention and time. Have a great day.


End file.
